Ninja of the Demon Flower
by Aqua and Marine
Summary: what if the jinchuurki ran away and made there own village? what will happen? just read and find out. sakura and sasuke bashing. we made this with firemageallana.
1. running away

_**Disclaimer: i do not own this.**_

_**Hey ya all. this is the first chapter of the story, firemageallanna wrote this and i hope you like it.**_

"Normal chat"

_Thoughts_

"_**Demons chat to Jinchuuriki in head."**_

---

_Sakuragakura, The village hidden in the cherry blossoms. They say it is a village for only those who have been thrust aside. A village for villains, missing ninja, and those called Jinchuuriki. _

_Is it actually there? Who knows, but one thing is for curtain. It sounds like hell on Earth._

---

Three boys sat together and watched the other academy students play. The first had long, dark, straight hair that he had tied almost at the tips. His eyes were like a void of a misty blue and on his head a headband to hide the caged bird mark upon his forehead. He wore his usual tan short-sleeved jacket and dark shorts. He wore black shinobi shoes.

The boy to his right had spiky brown hair hidden under a fur-lined hood. On his cheeks two red triangles that pointed down. His eyes were almost unnoticeable but if one looked close enough you could see they were dark slits. His jacket was also a tan color and he wore dark pants that stopped at his mid-shin. His shinobi shoes, blue. On his lap sat a little white dog.

The third boy had blond hair that seemed to fly in all directions. His eyes were a dark intense blue that shone of mischief. He wore a black turtleneck that was sleeveless. Over it a silver vest that seemed to have metal plates in it for protection. He wore black long pants and black shinobi shoes.

They all looked about eight or so and watched he other students with a look of interest. The boy with long hair spoke first,

"They pretend to be bored in class, but when we get outside nothing escapes their attention." He said with a small smirk.

"Heh. Of course, Neji. No one wants to listen to a boring lecture, right Akamaru?" the boy with spiky brown hair said to the first boy before petting the puppy in his lap.

"Arf!" the dog said.

"How do you honestly know what he's saying, Kiba?" the blond asked resting his head on his right hand.

"You know the answer to that already, baka!" Kiba said mildly irked.

"I know." The blond said with a smirk, "I just enjoy annoying you."

Kiba's eyes flashed dangerously before Neji cut in, "knock it off Naruto. You too Kiba."

"But were just playing." Naruto said playfully hitting Neji on the shoulder. Both boys saw Neji wince and both boys' eyes clouded in anger.

"Neji, did he hurt you again?" Kiba asked venom in his voice.

"No." Neji said as the pain in his shoulder lessened, "not Hiashi-sama."

"Then who?" Naruto demanded his eyes shifting from blue to blue violet.

"It's fine." Neji said when they all heard the instructor say end of resting time. The three boys frowned but headed indoors to be glared at and listen to another boring lecture.

Naruto glared daggers into the back of the heads of he people in front of him that he knew were glaring at Kiba. _If only. _He thought somewhat sad. _If only there was a way out._

"_**Like what kit?" **_The familiar presence that Naruto knew was Kyuubi asked.

_I don't know. Like a place away from here. One where we wont feels so…._

"_**Feel like monster?" **_Kyuubi asked to finish Naruto's question.

_Go away! _Naruto said to the demon suddenly angry. His anger must have shone because the teacher slammed a ruler down that almost hit Naruto's hand.

"Gah!" Naruto said as he barley managed to pull his hand away in time.

"Pay attention!" the teacher scowled. Naruto's other classmates giggled, well except for Kiba. Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Hai." He said forcedly. _I hate this place! _He thought.

"_**Then run away." **_Kyuubi suggested bored before going back to sleep in his cage. Naruto sat there and considered what Kyuubi had suggested.

_Kyuubi. _He thought catching the demons attention. _That's probably the smartest thing you've ever said to me._

For the remainder of the day Naruto worked out the details so he could present the idea to Kiba and Neji.

When the bell to go home rang Naruto grabbed Kiba by the jacket and ran out the door.

"Hoi! Naruto wait. What's the hurry?" Kiba asked practically being dragged away.

"I'll explain later. First we got to find Neji." Naruto said without even looking back.

Neji stepped out of his class, ignoring the whispers around him. It was the same thing as always. He girls whispered of their crush on him while the guys whispered how they were going to run him out of town.

"Neji!" he heard a familiar voice call. Neji turned to see Naruto drag Kiba towards him.

"Naruto let go of Kiba before you kill him." he said monotonously. Naruto obeyed but looked at Neji with a look he had not seen Naruto wear in a long time.

"Come with me. I have the greatest idea." Naruto said excited. Kiba and Neji looked at Naruto like he was crazy but followed the blond to one of Kohona's training fields.

"Alright Naruto. What scheme have you come up with now?" Kiba asked. Naruto had his back to them and looked over the field training ground they had chosen to talk.

"Just how sick of this place are you guys?" Naruto asked keeping his back to them. Neji and Kiba were shocked Naruto had asked such a question. But when they thought about it, they hated the leaf with a passion.

"I despise this place." Neji said looking towards the Hyuuga apartments. Memories of year being beaten flooded him making his blood boil more.

Kiba nodded his head and Akamaru let out a small growl, "If I could, I'd go and live in hell. At least there I might have some respect." He said venom in his voice.

"Then why are we still here?" Naruto asked, his own painful memories flooding him. The other two could not answer. They just stood there and listened to the wind pass.

"So." Naruto said facing them grinning evilly, "why don't we just leave?"

The other two Jinchuuriki looked at Naruto and smiled.

"Why not." They said.

A boy with fire red hair and green eyes that had dark outlining looked over the village of the sand. He wore a black t-shirt and a fish net under it that stopped a little further down his arm then the t-shirt. He also wore dark pants and a gorge on his back that was held in place by a strap that went across his chest. Over the strap coming down his chest the opposite direction, was a white sash. He also wore black shinobi shoes. He looked to be about nine.

He looked down on the village of the sand with pure hate evident in his eyes. He lifted his hand and sand began to rise around the village, ready to crush it.

"Gaara!" a female voice called. Gaara cursed and looked back at the person he knew was coming. She wore black Anbu pants and a red short-sleeved shirt. She had on black shinobi shoes and she had her long red hair that went to her mid-back was in a low ponytail. She also looked Gaara's age.

"What are you doing here Saria?" Gaara asked monotonously.

"Keeping you from being a wanted ninja." She said angrily.

"You can't stop me Saria. I'm leaving this place no matter what." Gaara said.

"Fine! But at least don't destroy the village." She said sighing.

"Why not?"

"Because you baka! You destroy the village and everyone will be after you! And I don't know about you but I much rather have just the sand looking for us, not all the villages." She said before whispering, "jeez. What would you do without me?"

Gaara turned to face her, "what do you mean we?" he asked.

Saria smiled evilly, "oh please Gaara. Ever since I first met you, I've been saving your butt. How much of that do you think is going to change when you leave? If anything it'll get worst."

Gaara stared at her almost saying go back, but she glared back and he knew she had made up her mind.

"Fine." He said beginning to walk, "Lets go then."

Saria nodded and both Jinchuuriki left the leaf, forever. Hopefully.

A girl walked threw the mist village with a bored expression on her face. _Why do I even hang around this place? _She wondered as she watched all the residents run in their houses. She smirked evilly.

She had mid-back length pure white hair that she braided back and blood red eyes. Under her clothing were white fish scales that formed into short pants and a short shirt covering her body. She also had very pale skin and wore white Anbu pants and a red sleeveless shirt over the fish scale that just naturally covered her body. And unlike most shinobi she wore red shinobi shoes. She was about seven.

_Man this place is so pathetic. _She thought. _They're just a bunch of idiots._

"_**I bet they couldn't even go a year without you or Kisame."**_ Sanbi said in her head.

_Of course. I'd love to see them try though. _She thought conversing with the demon within her.

"_**Well, then. Why don't you just leave and watch how they fair? It sounds like fun. Eh, Kaira?" **_the demon suggested. The girl put her finger to her chin thinking it over.

_Naw. I think I will leave to go see the rest of the world though. _She thought before running to her apartment to gather the things she would need.

A group of three sat around enjoying the cool night air. The first had long blond hair that fell to her mid-back. Over her right eye her bangs fell and just under that a mechanical device. Her left eye has aquamarine. He skin was tan and she lifted her hands to reveal them to have mouths in the palm. She wore black Anbu pants and a short sleeved yellow shirt that had a fish net arm warmer down her left arm but not the right. She looked to be around ten.

The other female had blood red hair that went down to her hips. Her eyes were gold that had cheetah markings under them. **S**he wore blood red baggy pants a blood red belly-shirt with a golden design on it. Over that she had blood red leather trench coat that reaches her ankles and blood red shinobi shoes. And her side was a small cheetah. She looked to also be about ten.

The last person was male and looked to be ten as well. He had short dark orange hair and black eyes. He had dark orange pants that stopped at his mid-shin and a black t-shirt the showed tiger stripes over his arms. He had black shinobi shoes and had a slight tan. At his side a small tiger cub.

"So." A girl said petting the cheetah at her side, "were really going?"

"Or course. Don't back down now Hikari." The blond girl said.

"I'm not. Its just feels a bit odd." Hikari said.

"It does feel different." The male said.

"See I'm not the only one. Yami feels the same." Hikari said pointing to the boy who just crossed his arms and looked at the village they would never see again. Suddenly alarms went off, startling the three Jinchuuriki.

"Shit. They must have realized were gone." Hikari said, "what now Dana?" she asked turning to the blond.

"We leave. Yami your with me for now. Hikari we'll switch carrying him until we're far enough away then we walk." Dana said. They all nodded and Yami put his pet tiger in his arms and went over to Dana. Dana pulled clay out of her pack and made some hand seals. Soon she had clay wings and was taking off into the night ski with Yami.

Hikari picked up her pet cheetah and began to run and an amazingly fast speed. About five minutes after they had left rock Anbu arrived at that very spot and after that they had lost the trail of the three Jinchuuriki.

The five kages sat in a dark room around a round table that had a map of the great nations on it. The Kazekage slammed his fist down.

"Damn it!" he said, " why did this happen? How did this happen?"

"Calm down." The Hokage said irritated.

"Shut up Sarutobi!" the Kaazekage shouted, "you swore to us that you could control those pests!"

"if I remember correctly. You also swore to keep Ichibi and Nibi in your control and now they are also gone." The Tsuchikage said annoyed.

"and you swore to keep the Yonbi, Rokubi, and Hachibi!" the Mizukage said.

"while you swore to keep sanbi!" Sarutobi said.

"Enough!!!!" the Raikage shouted. In an instant the other kages were silenced, "it is all your faults! You all swore to watch over the Jinchuuriki, and have failed to do so. And whats worst is they all disapeared in the same week and we have no clue where any of hem are." He paused so the other kages could understand the seriousness of the situation, "this must remain classified. If anyone finds out about this, it could be the end of all the great nations. Especially if they manage to fall into the wrong hands."

The other kages nodded and the meeting ended, "pray they do not fall into HIS hands." The Raikage said before they all left. _god help us if they do. _They thought knowing exactly who the Raikage meant.

* * *

So hope you liked it please review. 


	2. meeting between 5 jinchuuriki

Hey ya all. here's the new chapter. hope you like it.

* * *

The search for the Jinchuuriki had lasted for a year, but it seemed as if it was an eternity. Every time one of the kages caught a scent of the whereabouts of the Jinchuuriki, they disappeared again. And every time they met, once every six months, they all reported nothing.

The kages also became aware that they weren't the only ones looking for the demons.

"Any status on Orochimaru?" the Kazekage asked. When the other kages said no the meeting ended. The same feeling of a doomsday approaching, hanging over each kages head.

---

A blond and two brunets walked threw a small town. The town was close to the village hidden in the rain so rain fell steadily.

"Gah! I hate the rain!" Kiba said. Akamaru barked an agreement. Naruto nodded his agreement, misery evident on his face along with Neji.

"Lets find a hotel. It seem unnatural if we stayed out in this storm and didn't catch a cold." Neji said pulling his drenched cloak closer to him. They nodded their agreement and walked into the first hotel they found.

---

Meanwhile, Gaara sat at a window seal in a room and let out a load curse. He hated the rain, hated this village and the fact that after two years he was so close to the place he hated more then anything.

"Why are we here Saria?" he asked.

"Because." The girl whose hair was as red as his said, "we just stopping by here then moving further north."

"I hate it here." Gaara said for the millionth time since they had arrived.

Saria let out a sigh, "you've said that already. Don't worry its just until the storm passes."

Gaara looked back out the window of he room they shared and saw only rain splatter against the glass. Then he saw three figures walked into the door of the hotel he and Saria stayed at. _Great. More people. _He thought cursing his bad luck.

A small knock came from the door and Saria went over to answer. It was a woman in her thirties.

"Lunch will be ready in five minutes. Please come join us down stairs." She said before walking to the room beside theirs.

"Hungry Gaara?" Saria asked closing the door.

"Not really." Gaara said before a load roar came from his stomach.

"Hehe. Looks like your stomach doesn't agree. Come on grumpy lets go eat." She said grabbing Gaara's hand and racing down the stairs.

---

Naruto, Kiba, and Neji set their things down in a large room they would share. It was plain but had two beds and a coach to sleep on.

"So who gets a bed and who gets the coach?" Naruto asked.

"I vote Naruto for the coach." Neji said out of nowhere.

"Sounds good!" Kiba said enthusiastic.

"What?" Naruto asked shocked.

"You get the coach." Neji said smirking. Naruto let out a stream of unheard cruses and set his things down on the coach.

"Come on guys lets go get something to eat. The inn keeper said lunch was about ready." Kiba said looking at them. The other two followed Kiba out the door and down into the lobby.

When they got down stair they turned left into a large dinning area where a pig was being carved. In a corner two red heads sat.

"_**What are they doing here?" **_Kyuubi said in Naruto's head causing the blond to stop suddenly, Neji and Kiba soon did the same. The other demons asking the same in Kiba's and Neji's heads.

_Who? _They asked the demons.

_**There's no doubt. **_Gobi said in Neji's head, _**those two are Ichibi and Nibi.**_

_Ichibi and Nibi? _

_**Those two are just like you three. They are Jinchuuriki. **_Naruto, Kiba, and Neji looked at Gaara and Saria shocked until they looked at them and shock was displayed on their faces as well.

_Were not the only ones? _All five Jinchuuriki thought.

---

A woman in her late twenties walked into the village. Her hair was a dirty brown and tied into a single ponytail and her eyes shone an intense aqua green. She dressed in an orange shirt that stopped mid-arm and had shoulder guards. Underneath and black shirt and around her neck a white cloth scarf. She had black pants and black shinobi shoes. And of course a waterproof cloak, which held her and a brown hawk.

By her side was a girl about eleven years old. Her hair was red and looked like fire from a distance that fell to her mid-back. She wore a dark purple shirt with black cargo pants and black shinobi shoes. Around her hands were bandages.

But as odd as she looked the one thing that made people look back at her as she walked by were the pools of light orange that were suppose to be her eyes.

They walked into the town with steady and quite steps. Memories came to the older woman's head.

Flashback:

_She stood in the Hokage's office. Her teacher, Tsunade, stood behind the desk and was healing the third after he had a coughing fit._

"_Please take care lord Hokage." Tsunade said, "Your condition will worsen if you don't rest."_

"_How can I rest with those beasts lose?" he questioned before turning to her, "Kurei. Your mission is to find and bring back the Jinchuuriki. It will be tough but I believe you can do it."_

_Kurei looked at her teacher and saw evident anger. Tsunade and her knew that no one could match a Jinchuuriki. So basically they were sending her to her death and the kages didn't give a damn. They just wanted his precious pets back._

"_With all do respect I wish to take one of my students with me." she said._

_The Third raised an eyebrow but when Kurei said no more, he sighed and nodded his head._

_Kurei bowed, "thank you lord Hokage."_

_The third nodded and she was dismissed. Kurei walked out of the room disgust. _

"_Kurei!" a female voice said. Kurei turned to see Tsunade following her, "Kurei you don't have to do this." She said worried._

"_But I must Tsunade-sama." She said facing her, "if I don't, I'll just be arrested. And I rather not."_

_Tsunade's face showed obvious worry._

"_Tsunade-sama. Will you look after my other student, Sakura while I'm gone? She's very talented in medical Ninjutsu and very may surpass us one day."_

_Tsunade looked at Kurei shocked. She hardly ever gave compliments. Never mind openly admit someone would surpass her. _

_Her, Kurei. The younger version of Tsunade herself, they even looked like each other for Kami's sake!_

_Understanding Tsunade nodded her agreement and watched as her adopted daughter and her oldest student leave the village to their doom._

End flashback:

Kurei stopped and made a fist, her nails dug into her palm leaving marks. _Bastard. What the hell are we to you? _She thought thinking of all the ways she could kill the third before leaving.

"Kurei-sensei." The girl said noticing her sensei tense. Kurei let out a slow breath.

"Its fine Kasai(1)." She said smiling foolishly and placing a hand on the girls' head, "lets see if there he, ne?"

Kasai nodded her head but she was still unsure of her sensei. _Is she really that angry at the Third? _She wondered. Then she remembered the brief explanation she got for the impossible mission and felt herself tense. _On second thought. I see why she hates him so much. _She thought watching her sensei.

Kurei stopped in the middle of the town and let her senses sharpen until she could feel the chakra around her. She looked passed the blaze of a chakra that was right next to her and searched farther. _Five abnormal chakras? _She thought. _They're leaving an inn and heading into the forest. _

Kurei opened her eyes, "lets go. Kasai." She said heading in the direction the abnormal charkas were coming from.

Kasai nodded and both woman and child quieted their movements even more and followed her sensei.

---

The leaf run-always and the sand ninja watched each other intently. _What do we do? _They questioned.

"So." Neji said breaking the silence, "you two are Ichibi and Nibi?"

Gaara nodded his head, "and you are Kyuubi, Gobi, and Shichibi."

Neji nodded his head.

"So what do we do now?" Naruto asked being the dobe he is. Neji went and hit him over the head

"I guess we could stop being hostile." Kiba said in a whisper meaning for only Akamaru to hear. But Naruto heard him and was soon in front of Gaara, his hand extended.

"Hi." He said chipper, "my name is Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?"

Gaara looked at Naruto's out stretched hand when he felt his own hand move against his will. At first he thought Ichibi was going to kill the blond boy in front of him but when he felt a warm presence.

Recognizing it as Saria's chakra, he relaxed and watched curiously at what she was making his hand do. He was rather uncomfortable when his hand clasped around the blond boys elbow.

Naruto's goofy grin widened when the red head boy who had shared the pain Naruto, Kiba, and Neji had felt, grab his elbow in a brotherly shake.

"Don't be shy." Saria said coming to Gaara's side, "tell him your name."

Gaara felt Saria's chakra leave his hand and he let go of Naruto's arm, "Gaara." He grunted.

Naruto smiled and turned to Saria, extending his hand again, "and you? I'm Naruto."

"Saria." She said gripping Naruto's elbow, also smiling.

Neji came over smirking with Kiba not far behind grinning in what seemed an evil way but in truth it was just his normal smile.

"Neji." Neji introduced following Naruto's lead.

"I'm Kiba. And this is Akamaru." Kiba said pointing to himself then to Akamaru who rested on his head.

"Arf." The puppy said in acknowledgment. Saria nodded.

"Lets go eat somewhere!" Naruto said, trying to keep the light mood.

"We just ate." Neji said.

"But I'm still hungry." Naruto protested.

"Baka!" Kiba said hitting Naruto on the head. Soon he three leaf ninja were arguing.

Gaara watched as the three other Jinchuuriki argued about if they would allow Naruto to get a second lunch. As he watched he didn't notice his lips slowly and barely curve up, into a smile.

Saria glanced over at Gaara amused by the blond boy. But she heard herself gasp when her eyes fell to Gaara's face. _He's… smiling. _She thought. Saria had never seen Gaara smile and after many failed attempts to make him smile she thought it was impossible.

The look of surprise on Saria's face quickly melted away and in its place was a soft, gentle look. She looked back at the boarding blond. _Now if only I could get Gaara to smile like that. _She thought unaware of the pink on her cheeks.

* * *

the end.

yeah right. i hope ya all like it.

(1) kasai kaki. both mean fire.

please review.


	3. youma

Kurei finished putting the last charm of her little trap. _Will this even work? _She wondered.

Off in the trees a kunai came down and hit the ground a foot away from Kurei. It was the sign from Kasai that the Jinchuuriki were close. She quickly picked up the blade and hid herself.

Soon Neji, Kiba, Gaara, and Saria walked calmly into view and chatted. Even gaara seemed to. _Where's the blonde one? _She thought confused, _shit this could ruin everything._

" How long does it take for a guy to piss?" Saria asked looking back the way they had come.

"For Naruto, ages." Kiba joked. Saria laughed and they continued to chatter.

_Thirty feet. _Kurei thought as they came closer to her trap. _Twenty. Ten._

As soon as the Jinchuuriki were in the middle of her nearly invisible seal, Kurei activated it. Taking the kunai Kasai had thrown, she cut her palm and set it down on the seal. The symbols came to life and the seal glowed red under the leaves she had hid it.

The Jinchuuriki, by then, had figured it out and tried to get away, but when they tried to jump weight pressed down on their bodies with incredible strength.

Kurei cut her other palm and set it on another set of seals that began to glow blue on top of the red.

"I suggest you stay still." Kurei said hearing her student come down to her side, "I've trapped you and if you try to use your chakra a seal will only absorb it. And even if you manage to beat me, most of your chakra will be gone and my friend here is ready for anything." She said indicating Kasai.

Kasai stood there a glared at them blankly.

Neji cursed his stupidity. _How the hell did I not notice them?_

"**You were occupied pup." **Gobi said in his head, "**preserve your chakra. These seals take a lot of chakra to keep up and I bet we can out last her."**

Neji nodded understanding and relaxed a bit.

_They think they can hold out until sensei runs out of chakra. _Kasai thought, pissed that they had underestimated her and her sensei.

"I'm beginning the transfer jutsu now." Kasai said as she began to make hand signs. Kurei nodded, have come to the same conclusion as Kasai.

Kasai slammed her hands to the ground. Another sign appeared in orange and Neji and the others could feel they're chakra being pulled away.

_Shit. _Kiba thought trying to hold onto his chakra.

"**Looks like things just got a lot worst then I had thought." **Gobi said, "**They're well prepared."**

_Damn wolf. Shut up. _Neji thought as he ran scenarios through his head. Nothing seemed to end in their favor. _Fuck. Were screwed._

Then a kunai flew towards Kurei, aimed for her neck. The clash of metal echoed and Kasai glared daggers at the one so bold to attack HER sensei.

"Hoi!" they all heard a load voice say, "What the hell are you doing to my friends?" Naruto demanded, his eyes already slit and red.

Gaara looked at Naruto shocked. He had just met the poor sap and now he was being called his friend. _Who is this guy? _He thought in wonder.

Kurei gritted her teeth. _Fuck! Just what we needed. _

"Kasai, deal with him!" she ordered. Kasai broke the seal she had and Kurei added more weight to her artificial gravity she had them trapped in.

Kasai turned to Naruto and sent a wave of heat at him. The blonde jumped back and looked at his opponent, surprised that her entire body was surrounded by flame.

She lashed her hands at him and the flames leapt to capture Naruto and incinerate him.

"What the hell?" Saria asked panting, "doesn't she…(pant) need hand seals? (pant)"

"That's the thing." Kurei said looking at the young girl, "Kasai belongs to a desist clan. The Kaki clan."

Neji's eyes grew wide in shock.

"**Shit! She didn't just say what I think she said did she?" **Gobi asked, knowing very well the clan she had named and how much of a pain in the ass they were to get ride of.

"I see you know about them, young Hyuuga." Kurei said smiling.

"Neji?" Kiba asked, his voice hoarse.

"The kaki clan was a clan of fire experts whose blood limit is to control fire without hand signs." Neji said before he had to take in a breath, "they were suppose to all have died fending off Kyuubi."

"All but one." Kasai said. She stood before a burnt and panting Naruto. She too had bruises and cuts and the blaze that had surrounded her was gone, but she looked like she could continue; "only I am left now."

Naruto looked up at her with pained eyes

"Is that it? You want to avenge your clan by killing me?" Naruto questioned.

"That is none of your business." Kasai said, her orange eyes cold yet ablaze at the same time. Tears slid down Naruto's face as painful memories grasped his mind

"Why?" he questioned softly before shouting, "it was Kyuubi! Not me!"

Kurei looked back at her student. _What will you do? Kasai?_

"I know that damn it." Kasai said fire rising around her again, "If I beat you up a bit that damn fox will come out. Then I can avenge my clan!"

The fire swirled around her like a fire tornado.

"That's as bad as killing me!" Naruto shouted, "What is it with people and revenge? It doesn't make the pain of loss go away! If anything it makes it hurt more because then you don't have the rage to numb it!"

Kasai looked at Naruto with cold eyes before setting into a fighting position, "I know that. Nothing will replace my dead family. Nothing can, but I will not allow my clan name to die. So I must either kill you or become a criminal. And I will not allow the second."

Naruto looked into her eyes and saw she meant it. _She's trying to carry her clan name with pride and make everyone remember them as great warriors. _He realized. Naruto pushed Kyuubi's chakra away and faced Kasai.

"**What are you doing you baka?" **Kyuubi demanded trying to force Naruto to take his chakra. When Naruto refused it he charged at Kasai

"I'll win this fight. On my own!" he shouted. Kasai's eyes narrowed and she prepared herself.

Naruto created three bushin and push his chakra to his feet, giving him more speed.

Kasai, not wanting to waste time, sent a wall of fire at the Naruto's and was surprised when all four disappeared. _What the…_

"Behind you." She heard a male voice say. Another lash of fire revealed that one to also be a bushin. Then she heard the whistle of kunai and jumped up. As the kunai hit the ground Kasai noticed the pieces of paper attached to the kunai. _Fuck! _She cursed before being flung away by the shock force of the explosion note.

_---_

_What the hell? _Kurei thought as she watched the fight. _Why is Kasai holding back?_

"Hoi. Why the hell are we just sitting here?" Kiba asked as chakra began to swirl around him. He looked up to reveal his eyes had slit more and had turned a gold color, "we can't let it look like he had to save us."

Neji looked at him and smirked. He began to gather Gobi's chakra and worked against Kurei's seals.

"That's right. Can't make it look like we needed that baka to save us." He said struggling to stand.

_God damn that blonde brat! _Kurei cursed. _Its as if they draw moral strength form him. Driving them forward._

Soon Gaara and Saria joined in. Kurei fought to hold them and the battle seemed even.

_Damn it! _Kurei thought holding the to seals with one hand and make hand signs in her now free hand. She closed her eyes and set her hand down. The same orange seal Kasai was using came to life and more of he Jinchuuriki's chakra began to be pulled away.

"We'll be stronger together." Neji mumbled. As if hearing him the others came towards him and looked at him. Each had a thread of chakra that they tied to his. Knowing what to do Neji sent to cord into the earth, into the seal, and into Kurei.

Kurei felt the invasion of the Jinchuuriki's chakra and tried to fight it off but holding three seals was taking all her concentration anyway. She felt her hold on them beginning to slip.

_God damn it! _

---

Naruto and Kasai traded blows. At that point Naruto had began to use wise battle tactics that kept him out of Kasai's range but still within his throwing range.

_God damn it. _Kasai cursed. _Now that he's calm he fights decently. _She thought happy for the challenge but pissed nonetheless.

Naruto threw kunai, shirkiken, exploding notes, anything. But he knew his store was running thin. _This isn't good. _He thought.

Kasai blocked another kunai Naruto had thrown at her when she felt it. The other Jinchuuriki's powers were growing and Kurei's was dieing. She blocked another kunai and tried to run to her sensei's side. Naruto not far behind trying to stop her.

---

The four Jinchuuriki sent another wave at Kurei hoping to break her. They had tried all the jutsu they knew but it kept being absorbed, and was thus useless.

Kurei gritted her teeth as another wave hit her. _I… I can't hold them much longer. _She thought.

"One more." Neji panted, his Byakugan activated, " one more and we'll be free." The four Jinchuuriki sent one last wave with what little chakra they had left.

Kurei smirked, _I forgot about his Hyuuga blood. _She confessed as the wave came at her, _to bad there wouldn't be a next time. _She thought sadly.

As he wave hit her Kurei felt the last of her chakra give way and her seals came undone.

She rested against a tree they had been blown her into. She coughed and blood gushed from her throat. What seemed like coughing turn into a small soft laugh.

"Well done." She said looking at them, "you are all strong. Strong enough to take on just about all the ranked ninja if you must. Now finish what I started. Kill me."

"Kurei-sensei!" Kasai said appearing by her teacher. She was covered in wounds form Naruto's well thought strategy. Kurei let out a soft giggle.

"Looks like your fight was delayed. Sorry Kasai." She said looking at Kasai. She looked back at Neji, "now finish it and kill me." Kasai's grip on her sensei's arm tightened.

"Why?" Neji asked, "can't you just go back and say mission failed?"

"You think you're the only one who gets treated badly? I was Tsunade's student. They expect me to be able to capture you. Failure would be seen as weekness in the village. If you don't kill me the Hokage will." She said plainly, hate evident in her eyes.

"It is that way with all seen as great ninja." Kasai said before turning to Naruto, "you beet me today for I could find no way to stop you before running out of chakra first. If I die here my clan will be not been seen week." She said dead serious.

"Its death to our names in either situation." Kurei said, "so just end I now."

Neji looked at them and drew two-kunai form his hostler.

"You cant!" Naruto said jumping in front of the girls, "don't you see? They're like us!" he said trying to keep the girls before him alive.

"There is now where for us to go." Kurei said looking at the back of the blondes head, "and if we leave the village they will send MY SENSEI, TSUANDE AFTER US!!!! She's a Sanin! The highest level ninja there is!!!" she shouted trying to get the message threw to the dolt.

"You could come with us?" he said trying anything and everything, "I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANYMORE PEOPLE DIE!" he shouted gripping his jacket were his seal was.

"Every night Kyuubi SHOWS ME! He shows me what he did. I see them. Even now. Even in daylight." Naruto said sobbing, "and then to make it worst the villagers come at me. They're angry. They think that hurting me will hurt Kyuubi but it doesn't!"

Kiba and Neji watched Naruto with soft eyes. What seemed like hours of uncomfortable silence settled.

"Akamaru had to steal my food for me to survive." Kiba said breaking the quite, "My parents locked me into the cellar and forgot about me. It was only when they were reminded that all Kohona children had to get an education that they remembered me. And even then. I had to sneak out everyday to go. As long as they don't see me they don't care!"

Akamaru whined softly and licked away a tear that was falling down Kiba's face. More silence fell and Neji spoke next.

"Lord Hiashi locked me out of the Hyuuga compound. I could not visit my parent's graves or even be in a Hyuuga's company. And every time a Hyuuga just saw me they would attack me. In broad daylight they would just attack. If it weren't for Naruto and Kiba, I might not be where I am now." he said softly.

"They attempted to assassinate us." Saria said speaking for herself and Gaara, "the first time they sent Gaara's uncle to kill him. The second they tried to send my brother. But aside for those attempts, just seeing the looks they gave us. Knowing what they were calling us. It… it can crush a person." She said shaking slightly.

Gaara looked at Saria concerned. He had never seen her cry and was panicking on what to do.

"And you two." Naruto said, "You, Kasai are the last of your clan. You survived when others did not. You think it don't you. You think, 'why me?' and 'why not someone stronger?' right?" Kasai looked away so they could not see the hurt in her eyes. What he said was true and she could not deny it.

"And you." Naruto said turning to Kurei, "you were taught by a Sanin so they send you to come after us. They think that a Sanin student is a match to five Jinchuuriki?"

"I doesn't matter!" Kiba said losing patience, "they sent her to take us back! They're leaf Anbu Naruto! Get that threw your head! If we let them go they'll come back!"

"Don't you see?" Naruto asked turning towards Kiba, "They see them as a Sanin's student and as the last survivor of a desist clan! Not who they are!! They see us as demons! Not who we are! How are we different?"

For once none of the others could answer. Even Kurei was at her wits end. She smirked. _He's right. In a way we are the same. We're all just pawns._

"Kurei-san. We can run. You said once that you knew about a place perfect for one to live in solitude. A place where no other would follow." Kasai said to remind her teacher.

Kurei let out a sigh and said, "But for just the two of us to go there is suicidal. Tsunade alone could come and drag us back."

"What if we came?" Saria asked having regained her composure. She quickly turned to Gaara, "a place away from the ninja nations. A place were no ninja would dare to go with five Jinchuuriki."

"It is the ideal place." Neji said thinking it over before adding, "for people like us that is."

Kurei and Kasai looked at them like they were mad.

"Don't worry." Naruto said smiling despite the tears still on his face, "We'll be your shields."

"But." Kasai said, "but we tried to kill you. Why are you offering to protect us?"

"Because you held back." Neji said, "When you fought with Naruto, you held back. Neither of you really wanted to kill us. Other wise you would have done so with out using costly seals."

"Maybe that's because we were told to bring you back alive?" Kasai responded.

"Enough kasai." Kurei said her eyes hidden, "this is our way out. No more leaf console to tell us how to live our lives. No more Kages. If we do this, we'll be free."

Kasai thought it over. _She's right. But what about my family name? _She thought.

"Aren't you tired of being called the last of your clan? If you come with us you'll just be you. A person, not a thing." Naruto said softly. Kasai's eyes were hidden.

"What choice do I have?" she looked up and grinned wickedly, "besides. I AM tired of being an it instead of a person."

Kurei smiled and struggled to her feet.

"Lets go then. No doubt someone's sensed us and Anbu are on the way." She said. Her eyes softened as she looked at the six children around her, "lets go find a better home."

They all nodded and they all disappeared into the forest.

---

The Hokage slammed his fist down.

"That mud licking, fire spitting, bat dung brought up, BITCH!" he said trying to come up with a curse fitting. Suddenly he heaved a cough and it turned into several.

Tsunade heard him cough and was by his side healing his weak lungs.

"Please don't do such things. You'll kill yourself." She said healing the old man. She healed him and stood up.

"She's left you Tsunade." He said low and with venom. Tsunade's eyes flashed with pain and worry.

"Who has?" she said playing dumb not even looking at him.

"Kurei." He said with more venom, "she and Kasai have abandoned us for those damn beasts. Place a bounty on their heads. As high as we can dare. I wants their heads on my desk."

Tsunade nodded and left to do as he had said. The minute she closed the door behind her she sat down and rested her head in her hands. _What do I do? _She questioned. _How can I escape like you, Kurei?_

_---_

Dana, Hikari, and Yami sat in a teahouse, eating quietly. None of them liked being in the waterfall village. Leaf ninja and waterfall ninja were everywhere and all three of them had a large bounty on their heads.

Not much had changed in them. The only difference was Yami's and Hikari's pets seemed to have grown a bit.

Kaira came over and joined them. She had started following them about six months ago, when she witness them fend off a squad of rock Anbu.

"Why must you follow us?" Hikari asked annoyed.

"Because I can." Kaira said smiling evilly. She went to take a bite of her dumpling when a wave of power came at her. Dropping the dumpling she and the others turned in the direction the wave had come from. Deciding to check it out, they grabbed the food, left money for the bill, and headed toward the source.

It lead them out of the village and to what looked like a coven.

A girl with a black turtleneck shirt, white pants, and black shinobi shoes was yelling orders to the children. She had mid-back midnight black hair and eagle yellow eyes. Which oddly enough did not seem to frighten anyone.

When Dana looked closer she noticed that all the people other than that girl had the same characteristics. They all had bleached white hair and black eyes. They also wore all pitch black.

"What the hell is this?" Yami asked.

"It's called a coven." Said a bored voice behind them. They all turn and the past few years of being on the road taught them to be aggressive. Kaira grabbed her sword and slashed it through the man before she could even think.

"Shit." She cursed.

"You shouldn't use such language." The man said. They all looked at him in shocked, surprised he wasn't dead. In fact he stood there as if nothing had happened.

"Sorry but those types of attacked won't work on me." he said with a smirk. He had bleached white hair and black eyes, like most of the people in the coven. And also like those in the coven he wore all black. He wore black pants, a black t-shirt, trench coat, and black shinobi shoes.

"What the fuck?" Kaira asked again.

"So sorry. My name is Shiro Youma. I am a member of this coven." He said not bothering to extend a hand. Dana, being the first to recover, spoke.

"Forgive us. Years on the road have not helped with their manners." She said meaning her comrades. Shiro smirked.

"Its fine. After all Jinchuuriki have to be careful these days." Once again shock became evident on their faces, "come. You must be hungry."

He said leading them towards the coven.

"Furai! Rei! fetch food for our guests." Shiro shouted.

A boy that looked like Shiro's son and the girl with long black hair ran off to the cook to relay the message for food.

Shiro set them down by a fire that had just been light.

"How did you know we are Jinchuuriki?" Dana asked curious.

Shiro looked at them, "your charka." He said as if were obvious.

"Ahh." Dana said feeling like an idiot.

Soon food was brought to the four Jinchuuriki and they picked at it.

"So where are you all headed?" Shiro asked setting down an empty plate.

"No where really. Just around." Hikari said.

"Hmm. If you want you can stick around." Shiro suggested before pointing over at Furai who was talking to the young children as they all tried to pile on her lap, "she's been following us for a while now."

"But. We're…" Yami went to say.

"You are who you are." Shiro said cutting in, "something an old friend told me. Never look at the problem. Look at the solution."

The Jinchuuriki looked at him oddly before they all looked back into the fire.

"**It would be a nice rest. Besides, you all need to learn not everyone's out to get you." **The demons lectured

Dana looked up and smiled at the man, "I think we will join you."

The others smiled and nodded their agreement. And Shiro smiled back, something they would come to learn didn't happen often.

"Then welcome to the Youma coven." He said before asking about their previous adventures.


	4. sakuragakure

hey, here's the new chapter. hope you like it.

* * *

Kurei sat at the top of a tree. She watched as a brown hawk began to fly towards her. She let a bit of her chakra loss so the hawk could pinpoint her. She held out her hand and the hawk landed gently.

She removed a scroll from his leg and opened it as the hawk moved to her shoulder. She began to quickly decrypt the message before she heard a load voice.

"Oi! Baa-chan!" cried the voice Kurei knew belonged to a hyperactive blonde.

Kurei resisted the urge to jump down and chakra scalpel the brat's heart out, and her anger was seen in the temple throb. She motioned for the hawk to let go of her shoulder. When it was off she jumped down to the ground landing a few feet away from Naruto.

"I told you not to call me that." She said calmly.

"Yeah, yeah." He said not interested, "So when can we do real training?" he asked excitingly.

"When you can sneak up behind me!" Kurei said flicking him over the head, which sent him flying into a tree and into the stream that was behind it. As if to show Kurei was pissed, she jumped back up to her perch on top of the large tree to continue decrypting the message with the hawk on her shoulder.

Kasai smirked at the blonde and continued her meditation. The other four Jinchuuriki did the same.

"Gah! How can you guys just sit here and call it training?" Naruto demanded rubbing his head.

"Its to help you focus your chakra Naruto no baka." Kasai said calmly, not even opening her eyes, "I must meditate everyday in order to keep my blood line from going haywire."

"But how does it help you?" Naruto asked sitting beside Kasai who seemed to not even notice him.

"Well for one, it helps you to learn how to suppress your chakra. A since we are all missing ninja now, it will make it far harder for the villages to find us. And secondly, if you can control your chakra properly then when you do start learning jutsu you will be able to accomplish it or any other jutsu for that matter. Or so in theory."

"Really?" Naruto asked suddenly interested. Kasai nodded, "tell me how! Please!" Naruto begged rather loudly.

Kasai opened her eyes, "first you need to be quite." Naruto shut his mouth, "second get comfortable."

Naruto followed Kasai's instructions and after an hour of just laying around in the quite Kurei came down. She found everyone meditating on different levels.

_Gaara, Saria, and Neji are all doing well. Kasai is doing excellent but she has more experience then the others. Kiba is doing well also but his already wild chakra will be hard to calm. A bit more practice and he'll be good. _She concluded walking by the group. Then she came to Naruto and instantly her brow began to twitch. Naruto lay on the ground snoring loudly.

Kurei picked him up and threw him into the stream. Kiba's concentration was broken and he opened his eyes. Gaara, Saria, and Neji flinched. And Kasai didn't move at all.

"Keep working." Kurei said to Kiba. The brunette gulped and quickly went back into the breathing routine.

Naruto however was up and pissed that he had been thrown into the water.

"What the hell?!" he demanded loudly. Kurei glared at him and he quickly lowered his voice, "what was that for?"

"You're meditating. Not sleeping." She said in a dangerous voice.

"Well sorry. But it so boring I could help it." He said trudging over in the ankle high water.

_Maybe that exercise would work better. _Kurei thought. She let out a sigh.

"Come here you baka." She said. Naruto's brow twitched but he obeyed nonetheless.

"See that tree." She said pointing to a random tree. Naruto nodded, "I want you to climb up it without using your hands." She said.

Naruto looked at her as if she were crazy, "that's impossible."

Kurei sighed again. She walked over to the tree. As she walked she collected chakra to her feet and when she got to the tree she just walked up it, her chakra holding her there. She got to the lowest branch, which was about thirty feet in the air, before turning to Naruto.

"Concentrate a certain amount of chakra to your feet then walk to the tree. If you have to little chakra in you feet it'll be as if they tree is covered in oil and you'll slid off. Use to much and you'll just make a foot print in the bark and be push off." She explained.

Naruto nodded and attempted to do the same as Kurei. The first time he slipped and the second time he crushed the tree. After about thirty minutes of practice he began to get the hint of the exercise and could get a foot off the ground before his concentration slipped.

Gaara, Saria, Neji, and Kiba watched him from a distance while Kasai prepared food over a fire.

"Man I feel jealous. He's learning to walk on trees and we're not." Kiba said.

Kasai giggled catching their attention, "that is an exercise that helps to teach meditation." She explained, "You could already do that if you set your mind to it."

"Really?" Kiba asked excited before charging at a tree. He took one step then slipped. Everyone broke out laughing.

"Like I said, if you put your mind to it. And it might help to find out how much chakra you need to stick to the tree before charging." Kasai said, "You all should try it. Holding to a wall or tree can be useful in battle. Plus the circumstances are always changing in battle. Its helps you to shift gears quickly and easily. If you master if of course."

They looked at each other before picking a tree and attempting to walk up. Everyone but Kiba got it. And after about five or six tries Kiba got the hang of it.

"Remember how much chakra it took. That will be the amount you need to constantly add when doing this technique." Kasai said in a teacher like manner as she dished out food. Everyone but Naruto and Kurei came over to eat

"Oi kasai." Saria said as she accepted a bowl from the girl.

"Hmm?" Kasai said asking blankly.

"Were you ever a teacher? You sort of act like one." Saria said.

Kasai sat back and relaxed, "I guess so. Kurei-san often forgets that I'm a prodigy and pushes her other student really hard. I felt bad for her and often offered to help. She agreed." She said in a matter of fact way. They ate in silence after that. They even tried to stay up to see how long it how take until Naruto collapsed but none of he Jinchuuriki made it past midnight.

Kasai jumped up he tree her sensei was in and sat on the same branch that Kurei hung from.

"There asleep?" Kurei asked.

"Yeah. No one ever realizes how much energy meditation can take. Especially in the beginning." Kasai said closing her eyes. Kurei looked back at the girl and smiled.

"Tomorrow we change directions. We'll head east a bit and meet up with an old friend of mine. She says we join him for protection as we move to our new home." Kurei said.

When no answer came she looked up to see her student had fallen asleep. _That's right. She may be a prodigy but she still is a child. And children can't keep up with a seasoned adult or some Jinchuuriki without stressing themselves._

Kurei got onto the right side of the branch and picked her student up, "don't worry once we're with the coven our pace will slow." She said carrying the girl down so she too could sleep by the fire.

She went back and found Naruto had also collapsed and carried him back. When all six children were positioned around the fire Kurei sat up for guard duty.

---

Hikari, Yami, Dana, and Kaira had gotten use to the life in a coven quickly. Every morning the girls got up and helped cook or baby sit while Yami went off to cut wood or something. They all quickly became friends with Furai.

They had learned that Furai's blood limit allowed her to see over great distances and had met her pet hawk, Roland. They also noticed that the bird came and went often. At first they were worried but soon they were so entangled in the coven life they forgot all about it.

Dana and Hikari played with the children while Furai help clean he breakfast pots and Yami help break camp.

"According to Furai, we'll meet up with Kurei and her group in the canyon." Shiro said looking over a map. Some of the other Youma elders stood around him, "she said that they are going to lead us to a new spot in the land. Supposedly somewhere we haven't been to."

The others chuckled, "as if there's any part of the land we haven't been to." One woman said.

They quickly decided their next stopping place before joining in the bustle of packing.

---

Everyone sat on a boulder in a canyon, meditating.

After Naruto could successfully walk up a tree, he found meditating easier. While none of the Jinchuuriki could fall as deeply as Kasai, they could sit there and meditate when a battle ragged around them.

Kurei sat on the cliff wall meditating herself. She opened her eyes when the sound of a mass amount of people came to her ears. Within minutes the Youma coven came into view, Furai in the lead.

The hawk that had been with Kurei flew over to Furai's and landed on her shoulder. The whole coven stopped when Furai did and four people stepped forward, to stand by Furai.

"It's been a while, eh? Kasai. Kurei." Furai said casually. Kasai opened her eyes and smiled at her old friend.

"It has." She agreed. She jumped off her boulder to go and see her friend. The Jinchuuriki opened their eyes curious to see what the commotion was about.

All of them were shocked. The demons within them roared with laughter

"**Well well. Look at this! Were all together again!" **Kyuubi laughed.

Dana, Yami, Hikari, and Kaira looked at the other five oddly. _All nine demons are here? _Dana thought. _And we're going to be traveling together! _She smirked. _And I here I thought whoever dared to attack this coven before was mad. If they do now they have a death wish!_

Neji stepped forward to the other Jinchuuriki.

"Well, looks like were all together now, eh?" he said smirking. Dana smirked back at him.

"I really feel sorry for the next baka to come attack us now," she said. Neji nodded and the coven began to move again. This time, Kurei in the lead.

---

Neji activated his Byakugan. _I've never seen a seal like this. _He admitted as he looked at the complex design of the seal in front of him.

They stood in the middle of a vast valley just out side the land of fire. There were two trees in front of the coven and Kurei stood before the both. The seal was at her feet. She quickly made hands signs and slammed her palms on the seal. It glowed white and a swirling portal opened between the trees.

"Lets go!" Kurei said looking back at them and smiling.

Shiro smirked, "I guess we haven't been everywhere." He said. The coven began to slowly move inside the portal and Kurei and the Jinchuuriki helped. Hikari however was doing guard duty.

Her and Chi ran around the out skirts of the valley looking for any sign of any ninja. After ten minutes she and chi just ran, not really watching for ninja.

Hikari took a sharp right turn and saw a dark figure. She tried to stop herself but was unable to. There was a large crash and Hikari rubbed her head.

"Sorry." She said trying to get off whomever she had run into. She looked over and only saw red eyes.

Hikari heard Hachibi growl, "**Uchiha." **Was all the demon said.

"Uchiha?" Hikari asked more to herself.

"If you don't mind I would like up." Itachi said. Hikari felt her face grow warm but she quickly got up.

"Sorry." She said again. Chi came over to Hikari and rubbed her head in her hand. Hikari looked down and assured the cheetah that she was fine.

Itachi stood up and dusted off his cloak.

"What were running so fast for?" Itachi asked.

"It's been a while since I ran so I felt rushed." She explained before standing up, "what are you doing here, Itachi Uchiha?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. _Perhaps I under estimated them? _He thought. He didn't respond to her question. Instead he walked away.

Hikari watched him go and felt her body relax. She burned the image of the black cloak with red clouds into her head. Hachibi had told her about the Uchiha clan and about its prodigy Itachi Uchiha.

_Shiro will want to know about this. _She concluded. Reaching down she unlatched he weights on her legs and ran to the coven.

---

Kurei watched as the last wagon went inside. She looked back when she felt a pulse of chakra. Hikari came skidding to a halt in front of her.

"Where… is Shiro?" she asked panting.

"He's busy organizing the coven. What happened?" Kurei asked concerned.

"I… saw Itachi Uchiha." She paned leaning on her knees. Kurei's eyes opened wide.

"Get inside." Kurei said softly. Hikari looked at her confuse, "don't question me! Do it now!" she yelled.

Hikari looked at Chi and did as she was told. With the last of the coven in, Kurei cut off her chakra and the portal closed.

She took a breath and let her senses sharpen. She could sense Itachi walking west, away from Kurei and the others. _How many more will you destroy? _She wondered. _How many more lives will you destroy? _

She saw Itachi look back in her direction, have sensed her chakra. He smirked at her before continuing to walk away. Kurei watched him until he was to far away. But even when he was out of her range she waited for ten minutes before reopening the portal to allow herself to enter.

---

Naruto gasped at the sight in front of him along with several other people. They stood in the middle of a beautiful valley. Around its edges were white sakura trees. The white petals drifted slowly down to the ground.

"Its beautiful." Neji said for everyone.

Kasai nodded, "Kurei-sensei told me that her brother did this for her when she was young. It was a present to insure her that he would come back from the war with the rock village. Unfortunately, he never came back. Kurei-san comes here when she wants to think." Kasai said remembering the times her sensei disappeared.

"Is this even a place? Or is it all an illusion?" Naruto asked, awed by the beauty.

"Its real. The seal was just to transfer us here. In fact were on a small island by the land of the waves. Those two oaks and the seal Kurei-san's brother made are the only way back to the main land." Kasai said looking over at Naruto.

"She wasn't kidding. This is defiantly a new place." Shiro said.

"I've only been here once. I think to the east is a clean river. To the west are vast fields." Kasai said, " and we should get everyone situated. Don't want them to scrunch up."

They all nodded in agreement and began directing the Youma coven. Within half an hour Hikari came through the portal as well. Yami looked up at her and saw she was unusually pale.

"You ok?" he asked his twin as he portal behind her closed.

"We were being followed." Hikari said as the other Jinchuuriki gathered around her, "we were being followed by Itachi Uchiha."

Everyone flinched at the name, but none as bad as the ex-leaf ninja. They knew that name all to well.

Yami's eyes flashed to orange, "are you ok? Did he hurt you? If he did I swear I'll kill him."

"No." said Hikari to stop her brother, "he… he didn't hurt me."

Kasai came over, "where is Kurei-san?" she asked concerned.

"She just told me to come here." Hikari said. They all looked at the portal. _Please Kami. _Kasai prayed, _please don't let her fight Itachi._

When Kurei did not join them they got worried. And when Shiro yelled for them to help they sent silent prayers for the blonde woman.

After an other half hour passed Kasai heard the familiar sound of the portal opening. Kurei walked through with no evidence that she had been in a fight.

"Where's the food? I'm starved." She said. Kasai relaxed and went to hand her sensei a bowl. Kurei accepted the bowl and sat with her student.

Naruto smiled. He could tell Kasai was happy her sensei was ok.

"So." Kurei said when finished, "it needs work. But what do you think? We could build a paradise here." Kurei offered.

"We like it." Neji said. Naruto and Kiba nodded in agreement.

"So do we." Saria said, Gaara nodded his head.

"The quiet is nice." Yami said lying down on his back. His pet tiger jumped onto his chest and rested there. Dana and Hikari also agreed that this place was far nicer then the rock village.

Kurei looked over at Kaira, "and you?" she asked.

Kaira looked at her and smiled, "not like I got any better place to go to." She said.

"Well then. I guess we'll start construction tomorrow." Kurei said setting down her empty bowl.

"And we'll assist." Shiro said walking over, "I have discussed it with the Youma elders. With your permeation, the Youma clan wish to join you here."

Kurei and the others looked at them shocked before they all smiled.

"The more the merrier." Kurei said.

For the next few months the Jinchuuriki and the Youma clan built. In the valleys to the west, they made farmlands using the animals and seeds the Youma clan had. The portal acted like the village gate and the valley in front of it was were houses were made, for those who weren't farming.

Everyone was happy and Kurei had to teach the all the hand signs to use the gate. When they all knew it she placed guards on the other side of the gate. One day Shiro came back from guard duty early and with guests.

There was a nock on the door to Kurei's small house. She went and opened the door to see Shiro and two ninja. Both wore a black cloak with blood red clouds.

Kurei kept herself from gulping and let the missing ninja in.

"What do you want?" she asked feeling several Youma clan members begin to collect in the walls, incase the ninja decided to try and attack her.

"We wish to join you here in Sakuragakura." The male of he two said. He had bleach white hair, like the Youma clan members, but he also had white eyes with several rings.

"And tell me. Why should I let you? From what I hear, all Akatsuki wants is to capture the Jinchuuriki and use the demon's within them." Kurei said narrowing her eyes.

"Rumor was, this is the place for all run away. Besides you have a very good grip on them." he said, "all we would do here is use this place as a base camp."

"And the children?" Kurei asked.

"We can teach them. Make them stronger. Besides you think we're the only ones who want in? The kages are just dieing to figure out how to get in. you'll need ninja strength, and while the Youma clan is strong there aren't many of you." He said to Shiro.

"There aren't many of you either." Shiro pointed out.

"True. But I know of another wondering clan. A strong clan. With us, the Jinchuuriki, the Youma clan, and the Chishio clan now one could come and crush you without a lot of support." The Akatsuki leader said.

Kurei raised an eyebrow. She had heard of the Chishio Clan and their unique ability. She thought it over for a minute.

"If I find out that you have harmed a single one of their heads, you will find yourself in the deepest, darkest pit of hell." She threatened.

The Akatsuki leader nodded his head, "agreed."

Kurei let out a sigh, "I can' believe I but. Welcome to Sakuragakura."

The Akatsuki member's smiled at the name of the quickly building village. _How appropriate for a village of missing ninja. _The Akatsuki leader thought. Both members bowed and left to get the other members of their group.

---

The leaf ninja all wore black in the rain. They gently placed white flowers down on the monument of the third Hokage.

"How did he die?" one person asked, "I thought lady Tsunade healed him."

"He had some disease she couldn't cure, I think." Another said.

Tsunade stood in the rain, pretending to pry for the fallen Kage. In truth she was remembering.

"Was it worth killing him Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked standing next to her.

"Yes." Tsunade said, "You didn't have to listen to him Jiraiya. He was going to send every ninja we have there to try and kill them. All of Kohona's ninja would have died. I had to do something to make sure it didn't happen and this was the only thing that would work."

Jiraiya looked over at Tsunade. Her usually blonde hair was pale, her eyes seemed dull. She had slight bags under her eyes from not sleeping. _She regrets it. _Jiraiya thought. He let out a sigh.

"And if the next Hokage decides to follow in his footsteps?" Jiraiya asked.

"Then I will leave. I'll go and join them in Sakuragakura." Tsunade said in her serious voice. Jiraiya could tell she wasn't kidding.

"Well then. We wont have to worry. The console has asked me to inform you that they have chosen you to be the next Hokage." Jiraiya said walking away. He knew she would be shocked. _Lead us to a new age Tsunade._ He thought, _lead us to an age where we look to he future instead of the past._

The following week of the thirds death Tsunade was made Hokage. She spent the following years trying to pay of loans and seemed to ignore Sakuragakura, as if she thought it wasn't that big of a deal. She however, knew it was and inside she cheered for their success.

* * *

wel i hope you liked it.

could somone please reviuw and tell me what they think so ne and allana can make it even better.

aqua and marine.


	5. akatsuki

Naruto sat back in the white cherry blossom that was his. In his lap was a staff and he breathed in a steady pace. All around him the other Jinchuuriki did the same. They sat there meditating until they felt their chakra in a tight, neat bundle.

They all finished meditating as the sun set. They watched in slowly set and when in had completely fled they left the white sakura trees. The ex-leaf ninja broke off and said they had to go help construction, which left the other to walk around. Soon they broke off as well. Dana, Yami, and Hikari in one group. Gaara and Saria in another. And Kaira on her own.

Kaira walked down Sakuragakura's main street glad that none of its people scurried away from her as if she was plagued. She was about to enter her house when she felt and familiar presence on the other side. Rage engulfed her and she broke the door down.

Just as she had predicted, Kisame sat inside.

"My. My. You haven't learned to control your temper I see." Kisame joked

"You bastard." Kaira said before charging at him, "god damn you!"

She drew a kunai and went to hit her brother with it but Kisame blocked it with his sword.

"Damn you. Go to hell." Kaira shouted continuing to strike. Not once did she call upon Sanbi's chakra but she use jutsu. She tried hitting him with a water dragon but Kisame used his sword to absorb the chakra.

"Damn it." Kaira curse before gathering her chakra to attack again. But as she gathered her chakra Kisame cut threw it and it was gone.

"What?" Kaira asked confused, "my… my chakra."

Kisame sheathed his sword knowing she was done. He walked over to her and hugged her.

"Its all right." He said softly, "I won't leave you this time."

After a moment he felt her raise her arms to hug her brother back "if you do I'll kill you and I'll be ready for that damn sword of yours." Kaira sobbed into his shoulder. Kisame smirked. _That's Kaira for you. _He thought.

---

Dana, Yami, and Hikari all sat in one of the teahouses. Shiro came over to them in a cook's apron.

"So what can I get for you guys?" he asked. The ex-rock ninja chuckled.

"I forgot. Your wife makes you work here when you're not busy." Yami said smirking but also feeling sorry for the man.

"You're telling me. I feel ridiculous in this." Shiro said tugging at the apron. The girl giggled more.

"Just tea Shiro-san." Dana said. Shiro nodded and within a minute the Jinchuuriki had their tea. They sat there sipping it until a familiar voice was heard.

"You three sure have gotten big. Humph."

They all turned to the voice quickly, seeing it was whom they thought.

"Deidara!" Yami shouted shocked but pissed nonetheless. Chi and Ryo growled at the Akatsuki.

"Wow. Now no need to start a battle here." Deidara said raising his hands with his eyes closed. Then he heard the whistle of a kunai in flight. He caught the weapon.

"Like hell there's no reason!" the Jinchuuriki shouted before all three were going at him. While Yami and Hikari only threw kunai and shirkiken Dana was going all out and threw explosive clay. Deidara easily dodged the kunai and negated Dana's clay him his own.

Yami and Hikari went to take a step towards him when they stepped in something. Looking down they saw clay began to climb up their legs.

"Shit!" they cursed as it wrapped around their legs. Their curse caught Dana's attention.

"Yami! Hikari!" she shouted before turning to her brother, "let them go!"

"Well now that I have your attention will you listen to me?" Deidara asked.

"What is there to listen to? You abandoned us! You abandoned Dana!" Yami shouted as orange chakra began to swirl around him.

Deidara's eyes were shaded over so they could not see them, "I didn't want to go. But I had to. They were going to arrest me. I don't know why but they were. I think they were to keep you three under control, but I knew that would just piss you off more." He said. For once Dana hid her eyes.

"Why didn't you let me come? I was there at the gate. You knocked me unconscious and left me there!" she said sobbing

"I'm sorry if I had taken you they would have hurt Yami and Hikari. And on top of that you were so young. I hoped you could find peace. I see now that I only hurt you all more." Then to their utter horror Deidara got to his knees, "please. I beg for your forgiveness. I never meant to hurt you."

Dana's eyes were still shaded, "as long as you never again hurt us. We came forgive you." She said softly. Yami and Hikari nodded in agreement. As long as he never hurt Dana like that again they could forgive him.

---

Gaara and Saria walked down Sakuragakura hand in hand and blushing madly. Gaara was about to ask Saria where she wanted to go for dinner when he felt a familiar chakra pulse. He felt Saria's hand tighten in his and knew she had felt it as well.

"I should go and make sure Kiba doesn't kill Naruto." He leaned in to lightly kiss Saria on the cheek, "see you later?" he asked blushing a new shade of red.

Saria was also was blushing and nodded her head not trusting her voice. When Gaara left she felt her anger release. _Sasori. _She thought feeling Nibi's chakra flow threw her.

She quickly went to find her brother and kill him but when she did find him she found him in battle with Gaara. Concealing her chakra she watched.

Gaara glared dangerously at Sasori as his sand picked up speed to catch the red head.

"Let me ask you something Gaara. Why are you here? Why are trying to kill me? I have no grudge with you." Sasori said as he jumped to avoid the sand.

"It doesn't matter." Gaara said, his eyes hidden until he looked up with pure hate in his eyes, "you hurt Saria so I'm going to kill you."

Saria felt her heart skip a beat. _Gaara. _She thought shocked.

"Heh." Sasori said grinding his teeth, "I always knew you to would get together." He said landing some feet away. Gaara's sand shifted around him.

"It doesn't matter! You hurt her! Now you die!" Gaara shouted feeling his sand armor beginning to shift.

"Do you think I enjoyed it?" Sasori asked losing his temper, "do you think I enjoyed leaving her there? I had no choice!"

"Liar!" Gaara shouted as his sand began to form into a tail, "you just left! No word of good-bye. Nothing! Do you know how many nights she cried because of it!"

Saria's heart twisted and she gripped her shirt where her heart was supposed to be. She could remember those nights all to well.

"They were going to kill her!" Sasori said losing it. Gaara stopped his attacks out of shock. Sasori landed on the ground and looked gaara straight in the eye, "I knew that if I left it might be enough to temporarily draw them away. I was hoping my leaving would keep them occupied enough that she could find YOU!" he shouted. Saria looked at her brother in shock. _Draw me to… Gaara? But why? _She questioned

Her question was answered when Sasori continued, "if she was with you they couldn't hurt her! If she were with you she would be safe. The ultimate defense equals the ultimate protector. I knew you would keep her safe until I was strong enough to take you both away. But you beat me to it. You both left. And a day before I came to get you too! Talk about…" Sasori didn't get to finish his sentence because he found himself being tackled by Saria.

"Sa… Saria?" he asked stunned having not felt her chakra.

"I'm sorry." Saria said sobbing slightly, "I'm sorry I hated you."

Sasori's eyes softened and he hugged his sister. Gaara felt the anger in him calm and his sand returned to it original shape. He looked at Saria and moved over to her. Saria let go of her brother and then hugged Gaara, when he was close enough.

"H…hoi." He said shocked. Saria sobbed on his chest.

"I'm sorry." She said, "I didn't know you saw me cry. I'm sorry I made you share my pain."

Gaara's eyes softened and he held the girl. He looked back at Sasori, "if you ever make her cry like you did all those years ago, I will send you to the deepest pit in hell." He said protectively for the girl he held. He felt her grip in his shirt tighten.

"Humph. Don't worry. If it means facing your wrath again, I won't harm her." Sasori said.

_Looks like my plan to bring them together worked. _Sasori thought. _They always were perfect for each other. _Sasori watched as gaara picked up his little sister and directed him towards her house so he could stay there. By the time they did get there Saria had fallen asleep in Gaara's arms.

---

Kurei stood at the gate listening and watching the explosions going of through out the small town that was still being constructed.

"God. This is going to set us back another month." She said out load rubbing her temple. _Maybe I should have asked him to wait until tomorrow before letting them in. _she thought as yet another explosion went off. One of the Youma members had told her that everyone had evacuated the island and was setting up a camp just outside the gate.

Kurei let out another sigh, "please let there we something of the town let after this." She prayed as she to stepped on the other side of the gate to avoid the wrath of the others.

"Are they still fighting?" Shiro asked when she came threw.

"Yep." Kurei said with a sigh before looking at the only sleeping person, Naruto, "god how can he sleep threw all that?"

Neji smirked, "we have no clue yet if you say the taboo he's up in a second."

"And the taboo is?" Kurei asked curious. Kiba got up and whispered in Kurei's ear. Within seconds she broke out laughing.

"I need to remember that." She said trying to calm herself. When she felt the Jinchuuriki all calm on the other side of the portal everyone moved back in, eager for a, hopefully, peaceful sleep.

---

The next day Kurei called all the Jinchuuriki to her house. The damage wasn't as bad as it could have been but it was bad nonetheless. When they were all present she began.

"As some of you have realized the Akatsuki have joined our home. They come with the offer of peace and to bring us strength." She said formally then her tone softened, "I know some of you have had bad history with them but I ask you forgive them."

Kaira smirked, "oh please. What's in the past is in the past."

Dana, Yami, and Hikari also smiled, "she right. There's nothing to hold against them."

Gaara nodded and Saria looked over at him affectionately, "that's right." She said as she slipped her hand into Gaara's, "if we keep looking to the past we'll never be able to see the future."

Kurei grinned and shook her head, "and last night you all were so ready to kill them."

"Eh?" Naruto said breaking in, "what are you talking about obaa-san. I haven't seen any Akatsuki."

Neji hit Naruto on the head, "baka!" he said his temple throbbing. The other Jinchuuriki broke out into laughter.

"I have something for you all then." Kurei said before pulling out nine headbands, "I want to make all four of you official Sakura ninja." she said.

The nine Jinchuuriki looked at the headbands in amazement. In the middle of the headband was what looked like a sakura tree.

"These are our Sakuragakura headbands. While I wish we could live peacefully without having to fight, some think otherwise and will come after us. Most likely intending to destroy us." Kurei said, "I wish to make you the first Sakuragakura genin. The Akatsuki members shall be our Jonin and your sensei's. If you accept I will place you all into teams."

The Jinchuuriki smiled before they all picked up a headband and put them on. Gaara tied his to the strap of his gourd, while the others tied them around there foreheads.

Kurei smiled, "very well. The teams are as followed. Naruto, Kiba, and Neji! You three are with Akatsuki member Tobi!" she said as a man in an orange and white mask appeared behind them.

"Yo." The man said.

"Hikari, Yami, Dana! You three are with Itachi Uchiha!" Kurei said as Itachi fazed into the room. He didn't say anything, which Hikari was grateful for. She could feel her heart beginning to race.

"Gaara, Saria, Kaira! You are with Kakuzu!" she said as the old ninja appeared.

"Also part of the genin teams will be Kasai, Furai, and Youma Rei. They will be the fourth team and their leader is Aoi. I will ask them to be genin but I have a feeling they will want to join us. As for you Akatsuki. If your going to teach our genin here safely you'll also need a headband." Kurei said smirking.

The present Akatsuki looked at each other before removing their headbands and replacing them with one of the Sakuragakura headbands.

"Go and get acquainted!" Kurei said dismissing them.

She watch them leave and was caught in thought. _If all goes as I predict it, we may very well grow into a great nation. With time of course. _She thought as a small smile came to her face, _boy would Sarutobi be pissed if that happened._

_

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_

please review.


	6. back in konoha

hey new chapter is here.

* * *

All the Jinchuuriki sat in their own respected tree. They were meditating like they always did. Upon their heads their sakura headbands gleamed as the sun slowly made its way up from the eastern horizon. Some of them had had a makeover with their clothes.

Kiba hadn't changed much and only traded his once tan jacket for a long black trench coat that showed a black t-shirt and fish netting that went to his elbows.

Neji had changed his look allot. He wore a loose black shirt, which showed his well-toned chest, black pants and black shinobi shoes. Over his pants was what looked like a black skirt that stopped at his knees. But whoever dared to call it that ended up a pincushion, as Naruto found out.

Gaara was in all black as well. He wore black pants that went to his ankles and a black jacket. His gourd had gotten so big that he had to replace the strap with a vest that strapped across his whole chest. At his waist more holds for his gourd wrapped around him making the rest of his jacket sway with the wind.

Saria had changed her look to one that looked like Naruto's but just to be different she got a very dark shade of red for her shirt, instead of Naruto's black. Otherwise she hadn't really changed much

The others had only had their clothes fitted to their young adult bodies.

Across Naruto's lap was what looked like an ordinary staff, across Kaira's lap was what looked like a smaller version of her brother's sword, stabbed into the ground below Yami was what looked like a replica of Zabuza's sword, and in Hikari's lap were two shing swords.

"Hoi! Wake up you guys! Were going!" a hyperactive Sakura Jonin said.

Neji let out a sigh, "how did we get stuck with another Naruto again?" he asked

"Luck of the draw?" Kiba suggested as he got up. Soon the others did the same. They all looked over at the group of ninja who were supposed to go with them to the leaf village.

All of their group sensei's were ready to go along with Kurei; who was speaking with the Akatsuki leader; Kasai, Rei, and Furai. Naruto looked at the leader as a memory came to him

-- Flashback --

Naruto panted heavily, leaning on his knees for support in the middle of what looked like a heavy mist. He sharpened his senses trying desperately to locate the only mist Anbu he had yet to finish off.

He sensed him coming behind him and also sensed him draw a kunai. In response Naruto drew his own and swirled to block the attack. When he did he pulled another kunai and stabbed it into the Anbu's neck. It burst into water.

"Damn it." Naruto cursed when he heard the whistle of shuriken in flight. He twisted once again and tried to block the spray of weapons. When it was over, Naruto was scratched but not mortally injured. _Damn it Kyuubi! Why wont you help? _Naruto called to the demon within him.

"**because. If I save your ass every time then I might as well do all the fighting and you just be my body" **the demon reasoned, "**and I don't think you want that. So learn to fight, baka!"**

Naruto growled as he dodged more shuriken and then collapsed to a knee, panting.

"is this the strength of a sakura-nin?" he heard a voice ask from all around him, "how pathetic."

Suddenly as if materializing out of nowhere the last mist ninja was behind Naruto. In his hands were two katanas. But it wasn't the mist ninja that had left Naruto immobilized it was the presence he felt running past him.

"Rasengan!" Naruto heard the Akatsuki leader shout. The mist ninja took the hit full in the chest and as the spiral ball released its power, the ninja flew back into the trees.

_That's not possible. _Naruto thought. _Only one… only one person…_

Naruto could not finish his thought instead he managed to mutter, "Yondaime."

The leader looked over at him, "how would you know If I am or am not the Yondaime?" he asked.

"Because…" Naruto started, shaking slightly, "because. Only two people knew the Rasengan. The Yondaime and the sanin Jiraiya and I know you're not him."

Under the Akatsuki cloak Arashi smirked, "humph. You know a lot about me, eh? Then you should also know, I am your father. Naruto Uzamaki Kazama." He said before turning in the direction of the gate, leaving a stunned Jinchuuriki.

--End Flashback--

Naruto smiled, _that was when he actually told me. And after that he started hanging around more._ Naruto thought reflecting all the years that had passed. He looked back at his father, who was still talking with Kurei, and jumped down to them.

"Hoi. Older man. Make sure not to destroy what we built here. Or I'll hunt you down and make sure you die this time." Naruto said to his father looking over the village.

Ever since the Chishio clan had joined them the village had grown a lot. It looked like a miniature Kohona except it didn't have a tourist's section or many restaurants for that matter.

Arashi smirked at his son, "I'll try to fix it up before you get back." he said jokingly.

Kurei chuckled, "you had better. Otherwise you'll have nine-pissed Jinchuuriki, the Youma clan, and the Chishio clan on your ass. Not to mention myself."

Arashi smiled at her and she smirked back.

"Can we go now?" Tobi asked impatient like always.

"Fine lets go. Shiro. Shinku." Kurei said walking away. Shiro and a woman in her early thirties came to stand by Kurei.

The woman had black hair that had crimson tips and that fell to her mid-back. She wore a red coat over a black shirt and black pants. Her shinobi shoes and headband were also red.

They all walked threw the portal and headed for the gate and towards Kohona.

---

Tsunade sat in her office with all the genin captains.

"As you all know. The Chunin exams are here. I want to know which teams will be participating." She said in her usual demanding voice, "first we'll hear from the new genin teams."

A man while silver hair and a facemask stepped forward. Behind him was an other man with brown hair that was smoking and next to him was a woman with black wavy hair and red eyes.

"Kakashi? Kurenai? Asuma? Well? Are there any genin's you would like enter the Chunin exams?" Tsunade demanded, "starting with Kakashi."

"The Kakashi lead team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Rock Lee… under the name of Hatake Kakashi, I nominate them to take the Chunin selection exams." Kakashi said making the seal of the tiger.

"The Kurenai lead team 8, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Tenten… under the name of Yuuhi Kurenai, the same as to my left." Kurenai said

"The Asuma lead team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji… under the name of Sarutobi Asuma, the same as to my left." Asuma said.

"All of you eh?" Tsunade said with a smirk, "how unusual. Very well! All the rookie ninja shall enter the test!"

The Jonin bowed and were about to leave.

"There is more." Tsunade said just before they all left. They stopped to listen to her, "This year I have invited ninja from other villages to take the testing as well."

"Of course." Said Kurenai, "the other villages always participate."

"Question is which village?" Kakashi asked guessing which village but chose to remain silent.

Tsunade took a breath. _This isn't going to end well, _"I have invited the genin of Sakuragakura." She said bluntly. Some of the Jonin's jaws seemed to drop to the ground and an awkward silence fell over the room before Iruka broke it.

"What?!" he demanded shocked, "but lady Tsunade! That village is full of murders! Missing ninja and on top of it…"

"I am aware of that!" Tsunade said cutting him off. Iruka flinched, "the village hidden in the cherry blossoms is a very powerful village because they have those people! If we do not offer them peace they very well may crush us and every other village!"

The Jonin were silent. They all knew of a particular nine ninja in Sakuragakura that could easily crush Kohona, never mind any of the other shinobi.

Tsunade let out an irritated sigh, "If you see anyone, and I mean anyone, messing with the Sakuragakura ninja I want you to bring them to me." she said dangerously, "they are dangerous ninja. Give them no reason to harm you and they will not. That is all."

The Jonin all left. Tsunade knew some would be terrified while others would be angry. _I just hope that they will see. If we can make it known that Sakuragakura is allied with us, then they wont harm us. _She thought before letting out a sigh and getting back to her paper work.

---

"Yo." Kakashi said appearing on a bar in front of his students.

"Your late Kakashi-sensei!!" Sakura and Lee shouted, ticked at their sensei. Sasuke only opened an eye to show the Jonin he wasn't asleep.

"Hehe. Sorry about that. Anyway we have a new mission. Were going to the gates to escort a group of ninja to lady Hokage." Kakashi said making up a fake mission.

More then any thing he wanted to see the Sakuragakura ninja and he wanted to be able to show his students which ninja in particular they should try to avoid.

---

"Hard to believe we would find ourselves here again, eh?" Neji asked.

"Humph. And here I tried so hard to avoid it here." Kiba said with a smirk. Naruto, grinning hugely, and jumped up onto a tree.

"Hoi! Kohona!!! Your worst nightmares are back!!" he yelled with a huge smile.

Kurei looked up at Naruto along with the Sakuragakura ninja that had originated in Kohona.

"Damn. And I wanted to do that." Kiba said jokingly.

They slowly made their way towards Kohona's gates. When they got their Kurei was surprised to see a team of genin and the famous copy ninja.

She scanned the genin and only recognized one. _Shit. _She thought.

Sasuke looked up when the sound of people hit his ears and only saw one person. Rage flooded him in an instant.

"Itachi!" he shouted. Before Kakashi could stop Sasuke the boy was running towards his brother with the intent to kill. Little did he know Itachi had admirers. And one in particular wasn't going to let anyone touch him.

Before Sasuke was within twenty feet of his brother Hikari came out of know where. She pressed one of her shing blades against Sasuke's throat while the other was ready to stab him in the chest.

_When? When did she get here? _Sasuke questioned as he looked into Hikari's eyes with his Sharingan.

"You will not touch Itachi-sensei." Hikari said dangerously. Sasuke's eyes widened. _Se…sensei? _He questioned as his anger began to build again.

"Hikari!" Kurei called, "release him! If he tries it again then you can cleave threw him."

Hikari did as the Sakurakage said and released Sasuke. She undid the binding that held the swords to her arms and sheathed the swords.

"Hehe sorry about that." Kakashi said grabbing Sasuke in a firm hold so the boy could not try that stunt again. The only evidence of his worried smile was the fact that his one visible eye was in a U shape and that a sweet drop slid down his face.

"Its fine Kakashi. I should have guessed the boy would have that reaction. But it leads me to the question of why is he here with you?" Kurei asked curious

"Hehe. Well, they're my students now." Kakashi said.

"You. Have. Students?" Kurei said slowly as if there was a hidden message somewhere, "well, that's shocking! I never figured any Genin would pass your test."

"Well, they did. And it appears you do as well. And we weren't expecting you to be here until the last part of the exams Lady Kurei." He said politely. Kurei smirked.

"As you know Kasai is my student. I can't leave her out to dry." Kurei said putting a hand on Kasai's shoulder, "I should introduce the others. Line up!"

The group began to split up into four groups.

"The Tobi lead team 1, Uzamaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Neji." Tobi said from behind his mask.

"The Itachi lead team 2, Nekoyomi Hikari, Nekoyomi Yami, and Torika Dana." Itachi said, enjoying seeing his brother unable to strike him and how he struggled against Kakashi's hold.

"The Kakuzu lead team 3, Subaku no Gaara, Akasuna no Saria, and Hoshigaki Kaira." Kakuzu said.

"The Aoi lead team 4, Kaki Kasai, Washi Furai, and Youma Rei." Aoi said in her soft voice.

"Now if you don't mind. It's been a long walk here and I'm sure my squads would like to put their things away and explore." Kurei said wanting to separate Itachi from his younger brother.

Kakashi's grip on Sasuke tightened, "Ah yes. Sakura. Sai. Will you escort the teams to a hotel while Sasuke and I take Kurei-san to lady Hokage?" asked Kakashi.

"Hai." Both leaf ninja said unsure. Kakashi dragged Sasuke away from the Sakura teams.

"Stop fighting." Kakashi whispered to him.

"Let me go. I'll kill him." Sasuke said rage in his voice.

"Listen Sasuke. That girl who stopped you, she's and Jinchuuriki. And vessel for a Bijuu. I can't do anything against her. If I can't what makes you think you can?" Kakashi asked. At the mention of the girl being a Jinchuuriki Sasuke stopped fighting Kakashi.

"What are they doing here?" he questioned his eyes hidden by his bangs.

"They're here for the Chunin selection exams. Tsunade-sama believes it wise to seek allies in Sakuragakura and I agree with her." Kakashi said. Sasuke resisted the urge to find Tsunade and hit her. _Ally? My brother? Never. I'll kill him for what he did! _Sasuke thought.

Kakashi led Kurei, Shiro, and Shinku towards Tsunade's office. He knocked on her door and waited.

"Enter!" Tsunade's voice boomed. Given permission they all entered the office to find Tsunade at her desk looking at paper work, for once.

"Ewe. Paper work. Why is it no one ever mentions we have to do all that work when we're kages?" Kurei asked knowing somewhat of what Tsunade had to go through.

At the sound of her voice, Tsunade looked up and got out of her seat. She went over to Kurei and hugged her fiercely, Kurei hugged back.

"It has been far to long." Tsunade said when she let go of Kurei.

"It has, sensei." Kurei said as a wave of relief flooded her. Then she remembered they weren't alone, "lady Hokage I wish to introduce the heads of the Sakuragakura clans. This is Shiro Youma. Leader of the Youma clan." Kurei said indicating Shiro. He held out a hand and Tsunade shook it.

"Yes I remember you." Tsunade said, "happen to have any of your wife's tea? I get headaches often and she always made the best mint tea."

Shiro smiled, "I'll make sure you have some by nightfall." He said reassuring. Tsunade nodded before turning to the other woman who held out her hand.

"This is Shinku Chishio of the Chishio clan." Kurei introduced. Tsunade's mind worked through all the papers she had done and tried to remember anything she had heard about the clan.

"Pleasure." Shinku said keeping a blank face.

"It is." Tsunade said, concluding she almost no information on the Chishio clan, "come sit. It must have been a long trip."

Kurei, Shiro, and Shinku nodded before they all sat and chatted for a good bit of time.

---

The Jinchuuriki had all chosen to remain in their rooms. Not wanting to draw any attention before the exams that would begin in two days. The last thing they wanted was a random bleater getting killed because he was trying to 'drug' one of them.

But hey. It would be their own fault. Right?

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could someone please tell me what they think of this story? it's so we know if we have to change something.

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	7. the 1st and the second exam

here's the new chapter

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The day had finally arrived and all the Jinchuuriki were glad it had. Over the past few days everyone one of the sakura-ninja felt as if they were going crazy! Mostly because of the wait. And another factor called Naruto.

As the sun rose on the day of the exams the Jinchuuriki sat on their beds and stopped meditating. None had slept, none could have. As the sky turned from dark blue to a bright pink the sakura teams got ready.

After a few moments all of them collected on the roofs all of them had their weapons hitched to their backs.

"This is the last time." Kasai said, "Once the test begins we will all be enemies. You all realize that?"

All of the Jinchuuriki were silent. None of them ever preferred to be pitted against each other. And as always it was Naruto who broke the silence.

"Don't worry." He said grinning evilly before placing his hand out in front of him, "I'll become powerful on my own. If I'm ever pitted against any of you, I will give you everything I have. And leave _him_ out of it."

All of them looked at Naruto shocked until they all smiled in understanding. They all put their hands on top of Naruto's.

"Same." They said before all of them ran to the leaf academy.

---

Tobi, Itachi, Kakuzu, and Aoi watched their genin teams head for the leaf academy.

"That was unexpected." Tobi said, "During our training sessions they always seem to call for the demons."

"They're growing into adults and wish to be seen as shinobi. Not Jinchuuriki." Aoi said in her soft voice. Itachi nodded in agreement and Kakuzu made no motion.

"It shall be interesting." Kakuzu finally said breaking the silence that had fell, "especially with your brother here, Itachi."

Itachi seemed to not even have heard him as he watch Hikari's back. He asked himself the same question he had been asking himself over the past few weeks. _Why does she fight so hard for me? _He wondered.

Shaking his head he turned to the others, "lets go."

They nodded before disappearing.

---

The sakura teams walked into the academy as a group. They walked up the stairs and into a hall where a group of people crowded.

"Let us in!"

"Were here for the tests." They heard people say.

The sakura ninja moved to the front of the crowd not surprised to see two-jonin disguised as genin blocking the entrance.

And there was also a boy with black hair cut in a bowl shape being pounded on.

"Stop it." A girl with pink hair said. The Sakura ninja recognized her and Hikari smirked at the raven-haired boy that was getting a beating.

"Trust us." The Jonin said, "If you can't beat us then there's no way you'll past these tests. We've taken then twice and have yet to pass."

"That's bull shit." Kiba said drawing attention to the sakura ninja. The Jonin's eyes widened in fear when they saw the sakura headbands.

Dana smirked, "although I suggest everyone here just go home." Many of the ninja scowled at her.

"If you can get past this pathetic Genjutsu then you shouldn't even be a genin. This is academy level." Kaira said enjoying the glare she was getting from everyone and the killer intent coming from Sasuke.

Naruto walked over to the raven-haired boy and smirked at him as he lowered his upper body to stare directly into his eyes, "Are you really Itachi-san's brother? Gees, and here I was excepting a real shinobi. Not an Itachi wanna-be." He said evilly.

Sasuke snapped at Naruto's comment. Naruto smirking evilly quickly straightened

"Why you…" he was about to draw a kunai and run it through Naruto's heart when Sakura stepped in front of him.

"At least we don't harbor villains and demons." She spat at him.

All the Jinchuuriki's eyes slit and shifted. Naruto and Hikari's to blood red, Yami's to orange, Dana's turned a brownish red, Kaira's eyes paled into ice blue, Saria's turned reddish black, Gaara's turned black with a four pointed gold star, Neji's pale eyes darkened to pitch black, and Kiba's turned yellow.

Kasai, Furai, and Rei sent out a wave of kill intent that brought all the genin to their knees, if they weren't already. In the end only Sai and the Jonin remained standing. But all three shook like a leaf on a windy day.

"Words to the wise." Kasai said trying to keep her voice steady as she walked up behind Naruto to glare at the younger Uchiha, "Don't piss us off."

"Also. Arrogant people" Yami said as he looked at Sasuke,

"Along with annoying fan girls." Furai added looking at Sakura

"Are the number one people who manage to piss us off." Kaira finished. The genin all looked at them in pure horror until the sakura ninja turned away. Kasai grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him away from Sasuke.

"I hate Emo-mama boys." Hikari said as they walked away. The Jinchuuriki smiled and willed their eyes to return to normal. But they were disgusted when they heard several of the genin loose their breakfast.

"Pathetic." Gaara murmured as they all walked back into the stair well the climb another floor.

They all made it up and were surprised to see their sensei's waiting for them at the door.

"Was that really necessary?" Kakuzu asked. Saria and Kaira smirked at their sensei as Gaara answered his question.

"They needed to learn, they are not the strongest there is." He said blankly.

Aoi looked at Rei. He shrugged at her, "they were being cocky. And we all hate cocky people."

The sakura Jonin let out a sigh, "well it gave away some of your strength to those in this room." Itachi said looking at Hikari, "and there are sound ninja in there so be weary."

The Jinchuuriki nodded before they all straightened and said, "hai. Sensei"

They then turned away from their senseis and head into the room where the first test would begin. They all stood there looking into a room that was half full.

The sakura ninja recognized rock ninja along with mist ninja. There were a few teams of leaf genin and sand ninja. Gaara recognize his siblings and they wore the same look of shock as all of the ninja present.

They smirked at the shocked ninja and crowded into a dark corner. Waiting for the test to begin.

---

They waited around for half an hour. They saw Sasuke and some of the others they had scared shitless, but completely ignored them.

Naruto was beginning to get impatient, as shown in his fidgeting. Kasai looked over at Naruto and sighed. She walked over to him and leaned on the wall next to him. When no one was looking, she slipped her hand into his.

He stopped his fidgeting instantly and looked over at Kasai, surprised to see her blushing. He smiled and gently gripped her hand as he scooted closer to her to hide their intertwined hands. Kasai blushed a little more and looked away from Naruto. But only the sakura ninja could tell, well only two sakura ninja could.

Neji and Furai both smirked when they saw Kasai's bold move and how Naruto reacted.

But before they could make a joke about it they sensed a pressure of chakra. All the sakura-ninja looked directly at Ibiki, as he told them all to sit down in their assigned seats. The sakura ninja scowled but did as they were told.

Naruto looked at the written test in front of him in disgust. _A written test. A written test! Of all the things it had to be a written test!_

Breathing in a sigh Naruto looked around him. He saw Gaara and Kaira formed eyes out of their elements that stole answers from others. Looking to his left he saw Neji had his Byakugan active and Furai's eyes had focused on something in front of her.

_I see. We need to cheat the answers. Neji and Furai are using their bloodline limits to see the answers. Gaara and Kaira are using their third eyes and the others? _He looked over at the other sakura ninja. They all seemed to be meditating, causing Naruto to smirk. _I see._

Naruto closed his eyes and he toned into only one persons movements. Concentrating he began to picture there movements and copied them with his own. Before he knew it his test was filled. Opening his eyes Naruto looked down at his paper and smirked.

_To easy. _He thought.

Kasai looked back at Naruto and saw him in what appeared to be a meditative state. _Heh. Even Naruto, our dullest ninja, not only figured out the point of the test. But he got his answers. While others are being too reckless. _She thought as yet another person and his team was disqualified.

Ibiki looked at the ninja before him. _The sakura ninja are good for their level. _He concluded looking at them before shifting his view. _But then again he other villages have their share of skilled genin. Lady Tsunade is right, if we can offer peace to the sakura ninja and the other villages maybe we can be ride of Orichimaru once and for all._

"Pencils down." Ibiki ordered. Many of the Genin gulped but did as they were told, "I will now explain the rules for this last question."

Naruto looked at Ikibi as he finished explaining the rules to the tenth question. He couldn't help himself but he had to yawn in boredom.

Ibiki saw this and attacked Naruto with a kunai, which Naruto allowed to wiz by his ear.

"Do fine being a genin for life boring mister Uzamaki?" Ibiki said with venom. Sasuke looked over at the blonde and smirked. _He'll get kicked out for sure now. _He thought.

"I really couldn't care. You and I both know I could dispose of every wimp in this room. Besides you make it sound so boring and I really didn't sleep much last night, so what ever." Naruto said resting his head on his hand.

Ibiki saw several of the remaining candidates shoot angry looks at Naruto, which he shook off with another yawn. But when he looked over at Naruto's comrades he saw the same bored expression in all of their faces.

_Either they knew the point of this test the whole time or they think they can handle it. _Ibiki concluded. He looked around at the other candidates and saw determination to go on in their eyes. _And his lack of interest in the exams has spurred the others into wanting to continue._

"Hmm." Ibiki said aloud before counting the number of people. _Twenty teams remain. Man, Anko will think I'm losing my touch. _He thought before taking in a breath.

"The tenth and final question." Ibiki heard several people gulp in preparation, "you all pass the first part of the exam."

Naruto smirked as several people's jaws fell to the ground.

"What?!" a blonde girl screamed, loudly into Naruto's ear. He was half tempted to sew her lips together but managed to reframe himself.

Naruto toned out Ibiki's voice as he explained to the witless dolts in the room the point of the last question. He was about to fall asleep when he felt another spring of chakra. Instinctively he drew a kunai but managed to reframe himself when he realized that it wasn't a harmful presence.

And within moments Anko jumped into the room through the closed window. Quite literally.

"All right you maggots! Listen up! I am Anko and the next proctor of this exam!" Anko said in her drill sergeant voice.

Hikari smirked at the woman as she turned to Ibiki and argue with him about his losing his touch.

"Humph. I doesn't matter. When I'm done only half of them will be left." Anko said smirking at the genin.

_Only half? _The sakura ninja thought. _This... Will be fun. _They thought as they smirked at Anko. She noticed them and smirked back.

_I think I might like these new heads. _She thought looking at one sakura ninja. Hikari's smirk grew when Anko looked at her.

_I can't wait. _They both managed to think.

--At the Forest of Death--

Hikari looked at the large gate that stood between her and the creatures of the forest. She could hear them within and smirked.

"Where are we?" Sakura asked.

Kiba smirked, "Are you really that stupid?" he asked.

"It's called the forest of death." Neji said blankly as he thought about everything he had heard of the treacherous place, "Filled with creatures created in experiments from the wars. But don't think their normal. I heard most have been mutated somehow."

Tenten looked at him and a blush came to her face. _So hot! _She thought. _And cool. And smart… _she continued to list things.

Hikari looked over at Neji, "Really? Sounds like my kind of place."

Anko smirked, "Guess what you brats! For the second part of these exams you will be doing a fight to the death battle simulation. Each team will be given a scroll. There will be two types of scrolls handed out, the heaven and the earth scrolls. Your job is to get the opposite of what is given to you and make it to the tower in the center of the forest within five days. Understood?"

Many of the genin nodded and others seemed to be scared stiff. Anko smirked and threw a kunai at Yami, who had made to reaction at all to her. Yami saw the blade coming and was only able to move enough to get a small scratch.

Anko appeared behind him, "you all should be careful. Some have died in this part of the test and…" she was cut off when something sharp was pressed into her back. Looking behind her she saw two pissed ninja.

Hikari had the same kunai Anko had thrown and was glaring at her, while Dana had a clay spider on her palm that was almost in her face.

"Touch him, and we'll kill you." Hikari said trying to keep herself calm and not throw out a kill intent that may accidentally cause the other genin to go insane.

Anko smirked, "aw. How cute." She rested against Yami who had yet to move, "are they your little girl friends?"

Looking back at Anko, Yami smirked, "no they are my sisters and they can, and will, kill you." He said coolly. Anko saw the other sakura ninja smirk.

"I'd let it be." Naruto said, "Dana-san's attack at that range could kill any shinobi and Hikari is the fastest of us all. They could kill you all o quickly."

Lee looked at Hikari and saw the blank hate in her eyes. _The fastest of them all? If that is so. Then where? Where would I be among them? _He thought recalling when he had first seen Hikari. He felt a bit of sweet slid down his face.

Anko looked back at Dana and Hikari, "humph. Well at least now I know why people call your village the Demonic Flower." She said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Come sign in and get your scrolls along with your gate number. Once you have those wait at your gate. The opening of the door will be the beginning of the test." Anko said from atop a branch of a tree that she had reappeared on.

Hikari threw the kunai at the tree and walked with her team to receive their scroll and gate number.

_One thing is for sure. _Anko thought. _They could have killed me the minute I threw that kunai, but didn't. I wonder why. _She looked down at Hikari. _Why did she stop the other one from attacking me? _She thought somewhat troubled.

---

Hikari, Dana, and Yami waited by their gate for the test to begin when Yami spook.

"Why did you stop Dana from attacking that leaf ninja?" he asked his twin, "you saw the attack no doubt."

"Hmm." Hikari said as she sat down and leaned on the metal fence, "why? I'm asking myself the same thing."

Yami looked at his sister surprised. It wasn't every day she did something without thinking. In fact, this was the first time.

"My body just moved. I don't know. Half of me wanted to kill her for attacking you but the other half didn't. Its so odd." She said looking up at the cloud dreamily.

"Who the hell are you?" Yami and Dana asked in unison, " and what the fuck did you do to Hikari?"

Hikari looked at her team and smiled, "I guess part of me likes her. after all, I can easily see myself growing up to be like that."

Yami and Dana looked at each other and thought it over. _now that I think about, see probably will end up like that. _Yami thought.

He let out a sigh, "great. Another sibling to get use to." He said as the gate door opened. The rock Jinchuuriki looked at the gate and smiled, "but first lets be the first team to pass this dumb exam."

Hikari and Dana nodded and they all ran into the forest, eager to begin.

---

Anko looked at the report she had been given about the teams in the forest night progress. She nearly spat her tea all over the Chunin who had given her the report.

_A team of mist genin looked like a human pincushions with senbon being the pins. The third team had intense burns all over their bodies. The third team had almost been crushed to death. And the last group of genin had almost been cut clean through? _She thought rereading the report.

Anko set the paper down and wasn't surprised that she was being called away to welcome another team.

She appeared in the tower, not surprised to see the last sakura team.

"Well well." She said appearing in front of Hikari, Dana, and Yami, "You sakura ninja are formidable. All four of your teams passed in fewer than twenty-four hours since the beginning of the exam. I'm impressed."

"I guess that means we were last, eh?" Dana said before shrugging, "Oh well."

Hikari scowled, "Damn this means Naruto No Baka beet us. How pathetic."

Anko smirked, "At least you weren't nearly sliced in two." She said noticing the shing swords attached to Hikari's arms.

Hikari looked up at Anko. _I guess they don't want deaths even though they say it can and might happen._ She thought before Anko turned her back to the sakura ninja.

"Anyways. The test is still going for the others. You have about four days to rest while you wait. Well, see you." Anko said as she disappeared.

_Demon's flowers, eh? _She thought, T_hey certainly are fearsome. But even so, I have yet to feel any presence of their demons. Are they not really the Jinchuuriki? Or have they learned to suppress the demon? _

Anko continued to ponder this while waiting for more results of the other genin.

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	8. family

hey ya all thanks for the reviews. hope ya like the new chapter.

* * *

Neji walked along Kohona feeling bored. He was about to turn down another street when he felt a spring of recognition. He followed the feeling until he was at one of Kohona's training fields. He looked around the grounds surprised no one was there.

He was about to turn to leave when he heard the whistle of kunai in flight. He automatically activated his Byakugan and saw the weapons coming. Drawing a handful of senbon he flung them at the kunai, deflecting them.

He smirked when he saw a familiar chakra.

"Very funny, Hanabi." He said as the said girl came out of her hiding place.

"You seem to have gotten better Neji-san." She said. He smirked at Hinata's little sister.

"I am your superior by two years. Of course I am better." He said deactivating his Byakugan, "and it seems you are better as well." He said sidestepping one of Hanabi's clones as it appeared behind him with a kunai.

"Heh. I'll get you next time." She said as she and her clone charged Neji with their Byakugan active. He let them get within twenty feet before he let loss two well-aimed senbon. They hit and Hanabi turned into a log and her clone dispelled.

Just as the smoke appeared so did Hanabi behind Neji. She went to block one of his chakra points when he grabbed her arm and threw her. Doing a flip in the air Hanabi landed on her feet.

She was about to charge again when she felt senbon pierce her skin. She cursed in pain as she collapsed.

"You have grown Hanabi. I can see that." Neji said smiling kindly. He came over to her and removed one of the senbon in her shoulder carefully. Hanabi was shocked when she found she could move her shoulder again.

"What did you do?" she asked curious as Neji continued to carefully remove the senbon.

"I blocked the joint thus making it immobile." He said pulling out the last senbon. Hanabi got onto her feet and looked at Neji.

"We missed you Neji-san." She said softly, "Hinata and I both."

Neji nodded before an idea came to him, "get ready Hanabi. I will spar with you for today."

Hanabi was shocked, "no its fine! You don't need to." She said waving her hands in front of her.

Neji smirked as he sunk into a battle position with the setting sun to his back, "you and lady Hinata kept me alive. The least I can do is help you to grow strong. So stop your rambling because if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, I'll kill you." He said before sending a handful of senbon her way.

Hanabi smiled and activated her Byakugan.

Kaira sat silently in a tree and watched as Neji and Hanabi spared. All she did was watch. It was all she felt like doing.

---

Kiba and Akamaru walked down Kohona's lamp light streets enjoying the night air and the many glares people were sending at him. He was about to head back for the hotel when he heard a small growl and looked down at Akamaru.

"What's the matter Akamaru? Hungry?" he asked. The white dog that came to his knees nodded with a whine. Kiba smiled at his companion, "lets get some food then."

Akamaru barked in agreement and Kiba turned into a teahouse. He looked around and stopped in his tracks instantly.

In a corner was a woman with long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. She had the same eyes as Kiba along with the same red triangles that ran down her face. Akamaru looked over in the direction Kiba was and when he saw the woman he barked in excitement. She looked up to see what the fuss was about and was shocked when she saw Kiba.

"K- Kiba?" she said.

"H-Hana?" Kiba said also shocked. Hana got to her feet quickly and went over to her younger brother to hold him in a tight hug.

"Oh, Kiba! It's been so long! How are you?" she asked releasing him and looking down when a wet nose nuzzled her hand, "Akamaru? Wow! You got so big!" she said kneeling to pet the dog.

"Heh. I've been fine. Roamed for a while but its all good now," he said as his elder sister looked up and noticed the sakura headband.

"The village hidden in the cherry blossoms?" she said mostly to herself.

"Yeah. It's so beautiful. I wish I could take you there to show you it. There are white cherry blossom trees everywhere." Kiba said wanting his sister to be able to imagine it.

"Sounds heavenly." Hana said directing her brother over to her table, "Hay! Two orders of the special!" she said to the waiter. He looked at her in discomfort at first but soon went to tell the cook.

Kiba told his sister everything that had happened. Starting with when he and the others had met up with the sand ninja all the way to how his team had been the first to pass the second part of the Chunin exams.

"Wow!" Hana said surprised, "Anko's test? In under five hours? You're amazing!" she said as she pulled another dumpling off the stick to feed it to Akamaru. Kiba grinned.

"Yeah. Neji is amazing with his Byakugan. I stole his headband once and within five minutes he found it on the Hokage monument. He's amazing when he wants to search for something." Kiba said. He was about to tell her another story when an all to familiar voice came to his ears.

"Hana! Lets go or we'll be late for the clan meeting." A male voice said. Kiba gritted his teeth and looked back at the very man he knew had spoken.

His father looked at him surprised, "When did you get out of your room? Go back now!" he said flushed.

Kiba smirked, "So you haven't realized it yet? I haven't been in that room for about four years! I left this god-forsaken place years ago. The only reason I'm here now is to become a sakura Chunin!" he said pointing to his headband.

His father stared at it in shock then looked at his daughter, "We're leaving now!" he said as he quickly departed. Hana looked at her brother. His eyes were covered by his bangs.

"Kiba?" she asked in a whisper. He smiled at her and hugged his sister.

"Thank you for keeping me alive. I know you helped Akamaru sneak me food and I am forever grateful." He said. Her eyes softened as she returned his hug.

"What are siblings for?" she asked as she paid for the food and walked out of the restaurant. She waved bye before disappearing.

Kiba sat back down and clenched his fists together tightly. _Thank you sis. You managed to keep me alive long enough to teach me to walk. _He thought as tears slid down his face. He quickly wiped them away. _Maybe Kurei-sama will let me take her with us home so I can show her the village. _He thought hopeful.

"Akamaru." He said getting to his feet, "find Kurei-sama!"

Akamaru looked confused but was eager for the challenge, so he led Kiba towards Kurei's scent.

---

Hikari stopped in mid-step when she felt Neji's chakra rise again. _I wonder what he's doing? _She thought. She was going to go check it out but decided not to. She continued to wonder aimlessly when she saw a man run out of a tavern.

"Someone! Help please! They're going to destroy my tavern!" he called out.

"Now what do you think is going on?" she asked the almost fully-grown cheetah at her side. Chi shrugged and Hikari sighed.

"You might as well go fetch the paramedics. From those sounds I'd say it's a brawl." She said listening in. Chi nodded and ran off to get the medics.

Sighing again she walked in and barely managed to duck as a chair went flying towards her head. She looked for the offender but she only saw a group leaf Jonin and Anko. The leaf Jonin seemed to be attempting to try abduct a drunken Anko.

_Either they have a death wise or they're to drunk to think at all. _Hikari thought just before the punches started to fly. They all fought sloppily and Hikari was able to guess the Jonin to be either hotheads or rookies, but alas there were six of them and drunken Anko just didn't seem to be able to keep up.

Anko tried to stand by pulling herself up. The Jonin chuckled and went to pick Anko up when a kunai flew just past his face. They all looked over at the offender to only see an annoyed Hikari.

"Hoi. Six against one isn't fair." She said calmly. The Jonin gave her a look of lust as their eyes ran along her body. _Oh, great. Fucking Perverts. _She thought even more disgusted and angry.

"Hay doll." One said, "Wanna come with us and this pretty to have some fun?"

"How about," Hikari started before drawing two kunai, "I teach you a lesson."

Before the Jonin had time to react she was gone. They looked around the room confused. They were almost scared out of their skins when they heard Hikari's voice again.

"Next time you want entertainment" She started putting her kunai back in their holder as she stood in front of Anko, "find a hotel."

They all looked at her shocked before blood gusted from their bodies in places that were now slashed open. Anko looked at the bodies in shock.

"Are they…?" she asked unable to look away from the bodies.

"The wounds are deep enough to scar but not kill. I want them to remember this." Hikari said as she kneeled down and grabbed Anko's arm. Resting it on the back on her neck and then lifting, she brought them injured woman to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Anko asked surprised at Hikari's actions.

"Helping you, dobe." Hikari said almost dragging her out of the tavern, "your shit faced drunk and have been beaten by a bunch of Jonin. You can't be feeling to great."

Anko smiled and relaxed, "your right I feel like shit." She said as she tried to walk, "you remind me of myself kid."

Hikari smiled, "funny. You remind me of myself." she said bringing Anko to her hotel room where she let the woman sleep on her bed.

"How unusually kind of you Hikari." Itachi said leaning on the doorframe as Chi walked into the room to sniff Anko. Hikari looked at Itachi and felt her heart race. Keeping her back to him she wrapped Anko's wrist.

"She needed help and I don't want to think about what they would have done if I hadn't come along." She said pissed and disgusted at the Jonin. Then to her utter horror, he was besides her. She willed her face to remain her usual color then to turn red.

Itachi looked over at Hikari and was unable to see her face as she turned away to get a towel wet in the bowl of water besides her. He didn't know why but he had to smirk. She wetted the towel and began whipping Anko's face clean of the sweet and dirt she had managed to get.

Itachi took the towel from Hikari, noticing her body tense, and take it to the sink to rinse it out. Done with the first aid Hikari put everything back in its case and turned to Itachi.

"Now if you don't mind. Tomorrow is the end of the second part of the exams and I want to get some sleep. So please leave Itachi-sensei." She said as calmly as she could. Itachi nodded and left the room to reflect on the way Hikari acted when he was around and when he wasn't.

_Why does she act so different? _He pondered.

---

Anko awoke feeling a very warm spot over her entire chest. Opening her eyes she saw a cheetah asleep on her.

"Hay. Get off me." she said amazed at how week her voice sounded.

Raising her hand to block the light from the window she found it was bandaged. She tried to get up but the drumming in her skull and the weight of the cheetah stopped her.

"I wouldn't move to much." She heard a voice say. Looking over she saw Hikari walk in the room with a cup of tea, "at least not until you've had some of this."

She set the cup down besides the bed, shooed the cheetah out of the way, and helped Anko sit up.

"Where am I? And what happened? Why do I feel like a got the crap beaten out of me?" she asked holding her head. Hikari grabbed the cup and put it in Anko's hands.

"Drink. You're in my hotel room and yes you nearly had the crap beaten out of you. And god knows what else might have happened if I hadn't stepped in." Hikari said moving over to the window to shut the blinds.

Anko finished the drink and made her way to the bathroom. Once by the sink she slashed cool water on her faced, which helped along with the tea.

"Thank you." Anko said when she was done. She looked over at Hikari to see the girl strapping on her shing blades.

"Hmm? Oh. Your welcome." She said finishing the knot before turning to Anko, "we should go. Your test should be just about over."

Anko nodded as woman, girl, and cheetah speed off to join the others.

* * *

wel thats it for now. please review so we can make the story even better. bye, The shinata twins. 


	9. the preliminary fights

yo hope ya like the chapter.

* * *

Naruto looked around and saw Yami's fidget.

"Hoi! Yami!" he called walking over to the human tiger, "where's your sis? Or Chi for that matter?"

Yami looked at Naruto impatiently, "do you really think I would know? She locked her door this morning so I thought she was already here. Now I'm just worried sick." He said as some more ninja entered the room, including Hikari.

"Hikari!" Dana yelled, "your last and late!"

Hikari jumped up onto the balcony the sakura ninja had gathered on, including senseis.

"Sorry. Had to make sure the bum could walk after nearly getting beaten to death." She said blandly. Itachi smirked and looked over at that so-called 'Bum'.

Anko had managed to catch what Hikari said and smirked. _We're too much alike. She could be my ruddy sister! _She thought as she and Tsunade walked into the room.

All of the teams lined up to hear what the Hokage and previous proctor had to say.

"Alright listen up!" Tsunade said, "You all have passed the second exam. But seeing how there are so many of you we are having a preliminary elimination round."

The teams looked at each other then at the sakura teams.

_Heh. Sucks for those who just barley made it. _Kaira thought with a smirk. _Also. _Kaira looked at the other teams. _Besides our own teams three leaf teams made it as well as a two man sound team. I wonder what happened to the third. _She thought before a man who looked very sickly appeared.

"Hello. (Cough) my name is Gekkou Hayate." Said the man, "and I will be the referee for the preliminary rounds. During the matches those not participating will wait and if they wish to watch the fights. The winners of their matches will move on to the main event. Any questions?"

The only answer he got was silence and he sighed, "very well then. The first match up is…" he trailed off looking up at a screen as names went by. When the names did stop it said _Dana Torika vs. Choji Akimichi_

Dana looked over at the fat leaf ninja as he began to panic. She smirked as he accepted the fight only in exchange that his sensei got him food later.

"Poor idiot. He stands no chance." Naruto said shaking his head as he and the other shinobi walked up onto the over hang.

Hayate stood in between the two ninja before softly saying, "Begin."

Wanting to get the fight over with, Dana stuffed her hands into a bag at her hips where the mouths on her palms began to digest the clay.

Not wanting to give her time, Choji molded his chakra and called out his jutsu, "Human Bolder Jutsu!"

Tucking his limbs in he charged at Dana who had removed her hands from the bag and was molding the finished clay into the shape she wanted.

"Go Choji! Smash her flat!!" Ino cried, as Choji got closer.

Dana smirked and when Choji was just outside arms length she raised her right in front of her and set the explosion off as Choji hit her hand. Getting the full power of the blast Choji was blown away into the wall.

"Choji!" Shikamaru and Ino cried out. The said boy was gasping loudly and bleeding on the head. He stood up but kept most of his weight on the wall.

Dana smirked, "I win." She said as a small clay bird flew by Choji's face.

"Shit." He cursed before the bird exploded and he went flying into the wall behind Tsunade and the leaf Jonin. Hayate raised his hand.

"Winner." He motioned it to Dana, "Dana Torika."

Shikamaru gritted his teeth as he watched the paramedics carry Choji away.

"Hoi, Dana!" Naruto called out catching everyone's attention, "didn't feel like killing him?"

The leaf rookies looked at the blonde girl in shock. She seemed to smirk.

"Naw, not today." She said walking towards the stairs. Hayate coughed again and the names flew once more on the board.

"The second match will be between Zaku Abumi Vs. Yami Nekoyomi." Hayate said. Yami smirked and looked over at his sister.

"Looks like I'm first." He said, "lets go Ryo."

The tiger at his side grinned and both jumped down onto the floor. Zaku smirked and walked down the stairs. Both boys watched each other and both smirked.

"Begin." Hayate said. Yami dug his hands in his bag to get something while Zaku lifted one of his arms from its sling.

"Well well. Looks like one of my arms has some life still in it." Zaku said.

Yami smirked, "good. I would feel bad attacking a defenseless guy." He said before pulling his hand out of the bag and throwing it down to the ground. There was a load bang and smoke filled the arena.

_He thinks he can cover himself with smoke? _Zaku thought with a smirk.

"This wont work. Air slicer!" he shouted as the smoke was blown away by a blast of air. Zaku looked around him only to find Yami gone.

"Where are you?" he asked silently.

"Right here." Yami said from behind him. Zaku turned only to look at Yami. Yami smirked and brought his hand up to flick the boy on the head.

Zaku went flying back and rolled along the ground until he loss momentum. The leaf Jonin's eyes were wide as they all looked at Tsunade.

_Amazing! _Tsunade thought. _His strength. It rivals my own. Kurei these children, even without using the Bijuu. They are incredible!_

"What the hell?" Zaku asked as blood began to fall down his face.

Yami chuckled, "according to Kurei-sama, I am as strong as Lady Hokage. I want to see if that was true but it looks like I'll have to wait. First I need to beat you!"

"Don't take me lightly!" Zaku shouted as he prepared another wind slicer. His eyes widened when another Yami appeared above him while the one in front of him smirked.

"Game over." he said. The second Yami brought down his fist of Zaku's back. The force left a crater that went all the way around the bottom on the once flat battle arena.

Yami smirked as Hayate went to inspect the boy. _He's…he's still alive! _Hayate thought amazed. He looked at Yami.

"Winner. Yami Nekoyomi" Hayate said as medics ran over to take the sound ninja away.

"Heh. How pathetic." Yami said as his double disappeared behind smoke and when it cleared a smirking tiger was in its place. Both boy and tiger turned away from the ninja and headed back to his comrades.

_Everyone is screwed. _Hayate thought. _If they're smart they'll forfeit. _He got up and stood back in the middle of the arena.

"We will continue the matches. The next match will be between…" he paused to look back at the board, "Sakura Haruno and Nekoyomi Hikari?" he said shocked.

Anko smirked and the sakura genin fell on the floor laughing almost literally. Even Yami couldn't help himself as he almost fell over laughing of the stairs

"What's so funny?" Hikari asked curious.

Naruto tried to straighten but only laughed harder, "Its that battle between a fan girl and a sadist!" he said through laughs. Having said the leaf Jonin's sweat dropped anime style while the sakura Jonin began to chuckle, finally getting it.

Itachi put a hand on Hikari's shoulder, "try not to kill her if you can." He said, "For now we want good relations."

Hikari smiled, "I wont kill her. Just put her in pain. A lot of it."

Itachi smirked and nodded. Hikari looked at Chi.

"Time to play." She said to the cheetah as she grinned. The cheetah sneezed and jumped down to the floor with Hikari where Sakura and Hayate waited.

"The second battle will now begin." He said.

As soon as he finished speaking Hikari drew two kunai and disappeared.

"Eh? Where did she go?" Sakura asked looking around confused. It wasn't until she felt steal run threw her body that she got it. A long slash opened along her back and Sakura quickly went to jump away. Once away she collapsed onto a knee and gasped in pain while glaring at Hikari.

"Not bad." Hikari said swinging the kunai in her hands, "most don't have a good enough reaction time to get out of the way in time. But I have you in the palm of my hands."

"Heh. Says who?" Sakura asked smirking as she molded her chakra.

"Says Chi." Hikari answered as the cheetah burst out of the ground to bit sakura in the leg. Soon several more cheetahs appeared to immobilize the pink haired girl. Sakura gasped in pain and in shock. _Shit. _Was all she could think.

Kakashi felt sweet slid down his face. _Amazing. She created several clones of the cheetah and is using them to hold her opponent so she can get them despite her own speed. _His gaze moved to Yami. _While her brother uses the Man Beast technique to create two of himself and attack with his monstrous strength. Both of them are defiantly Chunin if not Jonin level. _He thought finishing his analyzing as he looked back at Sakura.

Hikari stopped twirling her kunai and disappeared again. This time a long slash appeared on Sakura's chest but she turned into a log.

_Replacement Jutsu? _Hikari thought as she stopped. But when she did she heard kunai flying towards her. She smirked and threw twice the times of kunai. Half to block the falling kunai and the other half to imbed Sakura's body. She landed with a thud on the ground and she struggled to get up.

"Why do you try so hard?" Hikari asked curious, "it obvious who is stronger." She said standing over Sakura. Sakura looked over at Sasuke who seemed emotionless but inside he was a blaze.

"Because." Sakura whispered as she smiled, "I don't give up. I wont allow myself to be seen as week. I wont."

Hikari looked over at the boy Sakura had been glancing at. He seemed relaxed but his clenched fist told her enough.

"Heh. So you think yo can be strong for those you care for?" Hikari said looking at the ground.

"Yes." Sakura said seriously.

"Well then. They all need to die." Hikari said as a crazed look came to her face and she disappeared again. Sakura let her senses sharpen and her eyes widened in horror.

"All of you! Run now!" she cried out but they just looked at her. Then their eyes went wide as each and every one of them was cut open. Sakura watched them all, she watched as everyone in the room were all cut in half.

Their blood fell onto her face and she collapsed to her knees, sobbing.

"No…" she sobbed, "it… it can't be."

"S…Sakura." Lee said looking down on her as he practically laid on the rail, "why sakura? Why are you so weak? Why did you just stand there?"

"Lee." Sakura said in a sob, "I'm so sorry. I… I couldn't."

"We hate you Sakura." Lee said as his eyes slit, "Live knowing you let us die! Live knowing your care for us killed us! We despise you!"

Sakura's eyes remained hidden by her bangs. She lifted her hands and formed the seal of the tiger.

"Kia!" she said as the scene of carnage before her faded away and she found herself on her knees where she had been.

"Sakura!" lee shouted, "are you alright my youthful flower?!"

Hikari, who had begun to walk away, turned around, "tell me. How did you know it was a Genjutsu?"

Sakura stood, shaking from the realistic of Hikari's Genjutsu. She looked up at Hikari with determined eyes.

"Because. Lee would never curse me." she said, "and I would never just watch you kill my comrades. I will protect all in my reach. That is my nindo!"

"Nindo?" Hikari seemed to ponder Sakura's words, "your nindo means nothing in battle. While you practice with wooden poles I am attacked by the rock villages finest Anbu. That Genjutsu is a very realistic possibility for my comrades and me! Our worlds are different, while you dream I face reality. Grow up you stupid girl. Grow up and face the harshness that is life."

Hikari ran at the girl with all her speed but instead of cutting her she punched her in the gut with a lot of forced that sent Sakura into the wall. She gasped in pain as blood gushed from her lips and a crater ten feet wide was formed. She slid down and fell unconscious.

"Winner, Nekoyomi Hikari." Hayate said motioning to Hikari.

Tsunade sighed, "I most leave now. I have a feeling the medics will need me." She said getting up.

"Hai Hokage-sama." The leaf Jonin said. Anko came up to Tsunade, "I will insure you see the results."

Tsunade nodded and looked back at the participants. Her gaze stayed on one person for the longest. _What will you do now, Sasuke? _She thought as she left.

Sasuke felt his rage build as he watched Hikari calmly walk back to her comrades and his elder brother. He would have noticed she blushed when Itachi spook to her but his rage on how the girl had tortured Sakura similar to the way Itachi did to him all those years ago, pissed him off. What was worst she just walked away afterwards. As if nothing had happened.

Hayate coughed as kill intent began to radiate off of Sasuke.

"The next fight will be Naruto Uzamaki and Sasuke Uchiha." Hayate said a bit surprised as he looked up at the board. Naruto looked over at the board and smirked. He jumped down to the floor.

"Hay Itachi's wanna-be." He called to Sasuke. He saw Sasuke's hate filled eyes and Itachi had to smirk, "get down here so I can kick your ass."

Sasuke came down onto the floor with killer intent radiating. _Good. He'll be so pissed he can't think. _Naruto thought glad his strategy worked.

"Begin." Hayate said. Sasuke charged at Naruto in blind rage. Smirking Naruto drew a kunai and meet Sasuke. For a few minutes the two boys fought in Tiajutsu only, trading punches and kicks.

When they finally broke apart Naruto had a bruise on his shoulder while Sasuke had several bruises forming and blood running from the corner of his lip to his chin.

"Not bad Emo boy." Naruto said smirking, "now lets move on to Ninjutsu." He said as he drew the wooden pole off his back.

"Heh. What do plan on doing with that? Whack me over the head." Sasuke said as he prepared a fireball.

"Why don't you find out." Naruto said evilly.

"Gladly! Fireball!" Sasuke said as the huge sphere of flame raced towards Naruto. Kasai held back the urge to dispel the fireball herself to allow Naruto to finish his battle.

Naruto smirked and began to pump chakra into the pole. The chakra formed around the wood and it turned pitch black. At the end a curved blade appeared and Naruto held a black scythe.

"They don't call me Soul Harvester for nothing brat. Black Death!!" He said as he swung the blade towards Sasuke. And wave of black chakra rushed towards the fireball and cut clean through it and continued toward Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" Ino shouted as the wave hit Sasuke head on. The force continued to push until it pushed Sasuke against the wall. When the smoke cleared they all saw Sasuke pushed into the same spot Choji was, across his chest a huge gash. He stood there for a moment before collapsing.

"I didn't kill you." Naruto said pulling the chakra out of the scythe and sheathing it; "I don't think Itachi-san would be happy if I did. But so you know Emo-boy, even I can't beet Itachi-san. What the hell made you think you could?"

Sasuke looked up at Naruto's back as pain raked his chest. _No. NO!!! How can it be like this? How can they be so strong? Why am I still so pathetic? _He continued to think these things even as he fell into a deep sleep.

"Winner. Naruto Uzamaki." Hayate shouted.

Itachi smirked. _Trying to make my foolish brother think he is and ant, While the rest of them are of higher placing. Very clever Naruto._

Ino shook like a leaf in the wind as she watched Naruto walk away calmly. _Sasuke. Sakura. Choji. _She thought as she recalled how they all had been after their battles. _They're…they're monsters!_

She wanted to run. Wanted to hide in a corner but was unable to move. She felt as if she was going to go insane when she felt and hand rest on her shoulder. She looked up at Asuma.

"Its all right. You might not have to fight them." he said kindly. Ino looked over at Shikamaru who was watching the sakura ninja intently.

"The next match is Kiba Inuzuka Vs. Shikamaru Nara." Hayate said. Shikamaru gritted his teeth.

"Proctor!" he shouted Kiba and Hayate looked at him, "I forfeit I don't want to fight!"

Hayate nodded. _Smart kid._ "Shikamaru Nara has forfeited. Winner Kiba Inuzuka!"

Kiba put on a disappointed face, "but I wanted to fight." He said.

Furai smirked and put a hand on his head, "but we all know you would go berserk dog boy." She said sweetly. Kiba just stuck his tongue out at her and looked to see the next match.

"Next match. Kaira Hoshigaki Vs. Ino Yamanaka."

Ino shook more violently.

"Ino look at me." Asuma said turning Ino to him, "you don't have to fight. You can quit."

"Quit?" Ino thought when she remembered Sakura.

_That's my nindo. _She recalled her saying. Her visible shaking lessened and she breathed calmly for a moment.

She didn't look at Asuma but at the girl with white hair and red eyes.

Kaira smirked at the girl with a smirk that could have males fall had over heal for her.

"No I have to fight. If I don't. Sakura will never let me live it down. I must." She said. Still shaking slightly she made her way down to the field.

"Begin." Hayate said.

Kaira smirked, "so you want to fight despite you're shaking from fear, eh?" she said, "Hehe. You'll be fun to toy with."

Ino willed her body to stop and to stand tall, "I will fight for my village despite all odds. That is my nindo." She said proudly.

Kaira smirked, "really. Weren't you paying attention when Hikari beat the crap out of your friend? Nindo does nothing for you in battle." She said as she brought her sword down on Ino's shoulder with blinding speed. The cloth and flesh tore open as what looked like fish scaled ripped up on the blade and cut across her shoulder.

Ino gasped in pain and jumped away.

"Come now. You have to have some skill to have gotten this far or did you rely on your team to get you so far?" Kaira asked walking towards her slowly. For every step she took Ino took one back. She stopped when her back hit the wall and leaned on it panting.

She looked at the odd yet beautiful girl before her. If one could change the coloring of her eyes she might seem like a desist mistress. In truth, Ino envied Kaira's looks.

Kaira smirked and pulled out a handful of kunai and threw them at Ino. Gathering strength Ino jumped to dodge them and throw kunai back. Kaira lifted her blade and it blocked the kunai.

"At least your aim is good." She said as Ino landed, "so have you found your fighting spirit? Other wise this wont be any fun."

Ino gave her a blank glare in response.

"You know what?" Kaira said before sheathing her sword and opening her arms, "one free shot. Hit me with everything you have!"

Ino felt as if her teeth were going to crack, "don't underestimate me." she said as she made hand seals.

_She can't be thinking about doing that? _Shikamaru thought.

"Mind Body switch technique!" she shouted. Kaira's eyes opened wide.

"Shit." She said trying to move but was to slow. Everyone watched as Ino's body slumped down and Kaira's relaxed.

"Hehe. I told you not to underestimate me." Ino said inside Kaira. She began to raise the girl's hand to claim that she forfeited.

"I Kaira Hoshigaki wish to…" she stopped in mid-sentence as a voice echoed in her head.

"**Get out!!!" **Sanbi screamed with power. Ino let out a cry of pain and sunk to the floor, holding her head.

"What the hell?" she asked as more pain came. She saw a giant form come and what looked like a claw made of water grabbed her inside Kaira's head.

"**Get out before I eat you human! Leave!" **Sanbi screeched.

"Gah!" Ino cried before releasing the jutsu. Kaira rested her head on the ground for a minute to breath. When she had some of her breath back she got up and stood over a whimpering Ino.

"Don't ever do that again." She said glaring down on the girl, her red eyes seemed to glow. Ino curled up more and Kaira walked away.

"Winner. Kaira Hoshigaki." Hayate said intimidated. _What the hell did she see? _He wondered as Asuma took Ino away.

_I sort of feel sorry for her. _Naruto thought. _Sanbi really doesn't like people other then Kaira._

Kaira walked back to the others and instantly sat on her own to calm down. Neji looked concerned and went to her.

"You all right?" he asked. She looked at him as she leaned against the wall.

"Fine. Although Sanbi is pissed." She said softly. She looked worn and tired.

"Hmm. Well just relax for a bit." He said turning to see the names of the next to fighters.

"Neji Hyuuga and Hinata Hyuuga." Hayate said. Neji knew his eyes were like wide saucers. He looked over at Hinata and saw what he guessed to be his very expression.

Naruto and Kiba knew what was happening and they looked at Neji concerned. Neji collected his composure and went down to the floor, which Hinata soon followed.

"Begin." Hayate said. He was surprised when neither opponent moved to take the offensive.

"I never thought I would have to fight you lady Hinata." Neji said softly.

"Nor I, cousin." Hinata replied just as softly as she recalled the first time she had met Neji.

--_Flashback--_

_Hinata shouldered the small bag that held her new school supplies. After weeks of arguing with her father she had finally agreed to let her go to the ninja academy. She headed out of her room and stopped in the Hyuuga kitchen for food._

"_Good morning Hinata-san." The main chief said smiling._

"_Morning." Hinata said quietly. She set her bag down and sat in a high stool and a plate of food was set in front of her. She was about to eat when a boy who looked a year older then her stumbled into the kitchen. He was bleeding everywhere and had several bruises forming_

"_You again?" Hannah asked as a disgusted look crossed her face, "be gone foul demon." She said throwing anything hard she could. The boy, to tired to do anything just slumped to the floor._

"_Stop!" Hinata cried running over to the boy. The cook seized her assault and looked at Hinata as if she were insane._

"_My lady! Get away from him! He is a demon." She tried to warn the Hyuuga Heiress._

"_I only see a boy." Hinata said stubbornly, "Now fetch water and clean linen."_

_The cook had no choice but to obey and Hinata cleaned up Neji and gave him her food._

_--End Flashback--_

"That was many years ago." Neji said recalling before sinking into a battle position, "Lady Hinata. Hanabi has kept her word and grown stronger. Have you?"

Hinata looked at the one she had always considered her brother and smirked. She activated her Byakugan and also sank into the Hyuuga position.

"Of course, brother." She said. Neji activated his Byakugan and made several hand seals.

"Shadow clone!" he said as eight other clones appeared surrounding Hinata. _Shadow clones? _She thought eying them with the Byakugan. All she saw were nine Neji's, all with equal amounts of chakra. _I see._

The nine Neji's jumping into the air and threw senbon at her and then made more hand signs.

"Rain of a thousand needles" he said as the senbon multiplied and raced towards Hinata. Hinata closed her eyes and concentrated. The senbon hit their target.

"Hinata!" Tenten cried out worried. But her worry was gone when she saw Hinata. A cloak of chakra covered her body stopping all the senbon in place.

Hinata smirked and spun around, "Rotation!" she said.

Her chakra followed the movement and a dome of chakra was formed around Hinata. The senbon went flying in all directions. The combination of the rebound senbon and kunai Hinata threw while spinning hit each Neji clone and would have hit those watching if a shield of water and sand hadn't formed around all the watchers. Each of the Neji clones dispelled and Hinata looked around for the real one.

"Just like Hanabi. You have grown strong." Neji said as he walked into the room, "I had a feeling a shadow clone wouldn't be enough to take you out."

Hinata smirked, "of course not." She said charging. She came at him her the hyuuga's gentle fist while he blocked, dodged, or used the replacement jutsu. She had almost hit him once but he managed to pull away at the last second.

Neji jumped away from Hinata and looked at her intently.

"You have become much stronger. But, so have I." He said making the same hand signs as before, "shadow clone." He said as once again he surrounded her. The Neji clones drew their senbon and prepared to attack.

"I already proved that wont work. What good will it do this time?" Hinata asked preparing her rotation. Neji's answer was sending the dome of needles at Hinata. He made more hand signs and a cloak of chakra came over Hinata.

"Rotation!" the girl called as the dome appeared again.

"Rain of a thousand needles!" Neji called out. Just as before Hinata's Rotation knocked aside all of the senbon but Neji had an extra trap ready.

As Hinata slowed and the chakra began to disappear, Neji threw his special senbon. The almost hair thin senbon were almost invisible even to Hyuuga's. Hinata's eyes opened wide as she felt the needles piece her.

She collapsed, unable to move her body.

"Wh… what?" Hinata asked looking up at Neji. His eyes were soft and sad.

"You are strong Hinata. Please I ask you to keep growing. And please do not use rotation. It has to many weaknesses." He said as he turned away from the girl.

_So… strong. _Hinata thought as her vision began to go in and out of focus. _I will become stronger. Like you Neji-san. _She thought before falling unconscious.

"Winner. Neji Hyuuga." Hayate said motioning to Neji. The paramedics slowly carried the girl away careful not to hurt her.

Neji joined his teammates and leaned on he wall by Kaira in silence. None of the Jinchuuriki spoke as they looked to see who would fight next.

"We will continue the matches. Rei Youma Vs. Tenten" Hayate said. Tenten jumped down.

_Damn. Now I want to fight that Neji guy. _She thought as Rei walked down calmly. When he was level with her he watched her closely.

"Begin." Hayate said.

"Forfeit." Rei said to Tenten. She looked at him shocked, "you wont be able to hit me so forfeit."

"Oh really." Tenten said feeling her temper rise, "is it because I'm a girl?"

"No. As with many of my comrades, I have yet to be hit by a human shinobi." Rei said calmly uncrossing his arms and opening them wide, "come at me with speed, weapons, strength. None of it matters if your opponent is intangible." He said as he began to sink into the ground. Tenten stared at the spot he had been in shocked.

_What the hell? _She thought when she felt chakra from below her. Jumping out of the way she was shocked to see a pair of hands come out of the ground but did not break it.

Kakashi lifted his headband to properly see Rei. _Amazing! _Was all he could think.

"This is my bloodline limit." Rei said as he climbed out of the ground, "my clan, the Youma clan, have the ability to pass threw objects by pushing chakra into their body. And this match is mine." He said.

Tenten grabbed two scrolls from her bag, "don't be so sure." She said kneeling and setting them down. She made several hand signs, "Twin Rising Dragons!" she cried out as the scrolls launched into the air. Tenten let loss the bombardment of weapons at Rei. His eyes narrowed as the weapons came at him. When it stopped Tenten gritted her teeth

Not a single weapon had hit him. "I'm not done!" she shouted as she used cables to control the weapons. They came at Rei and an explosion came went all the weapons landed.

Tenten landed on her feet and panted. Her eyes grew wide when she saw her weapons had hit only air. She felt something grab her ankles and when she looked down she was dragged under until only her head was visible. Rei came up holding her hand.

"Proctor." He said to Hayate, "Call the match. She can't move so she can't attack or defend."

Hayate nodded, "winner Rei Youma." He said. Rei's grip tightened on Tenten and he pulled her out of the ground. Once out he stood and walked away.

Tenten grabbed a kunai and threw it at him. it went straight threw his head and Rei turned around to look at her.

"Why didn't you finish it?" she demanded, "knock me unconscious? Anything?"

Rei turned to face her, "I had my hands full." He said.

"As if holding my hand did anything." Tenten spat angrily.

"Your wrong." Kasai said looking at the girl, "it kept you alive and out of extreme pain."

Tenten looked at her shocked.

"My clan has only one fighting style." Rei said calmly, "Pull the opponent into an object and let them go. Upon release your body would have wanted to blend with the ground. Basically if I had let you go. Everything but your head would have turned to stone. And I've heard that hurts allot."

Tenten's eyes were wide from shock and fear. Rei turned his back to her and continued to walk to his comrades. Kurenai came down and put and hand on Tenten's shoulder.

"Come on. Lets get out of the way for the next fighters." She said. Tenten nodded and they both jumped back up onto the balcony. Rei looked over his shoulder at Tenten and smiled.

_If you were against anyone else you might have won. Its just, nothing ever touches me._ He thought walking up the stairs.

"The next match will be Furai Washi Vs. Dosu Kinuta." Hayate said

Dosu seemed to smirk under the bandages on his face and Furai simply jumped down onto the floor. Dosu followed her.

"Begin." Hayate said. Dosu smirked and pulled back his sleeve on his arm.

"You should give up girly or else you'll get killed." He said. Furai's only response was to close her eyes. Taking advantage of it Dosu charged.

Furai opened her eyes and Dosu's movements began to slow she watched as he came at her. She saw several openings that she could attack later. She closed her eyes again and when she opened them Dosu was moving at full speed. He came to attack her when she pulled a curved piece of wood off her back.

"What is that suppose to be for? Attacking? Well I…" Dosu stopped in mid-sentence.

The curved wood was connected together by a chakra string. Bringing her fingers to it she pulled back. A long thin piece of chakra appeared as the arrow of her bow.

"Divine Strike. One." Furai whispered as she let loss the chakra arrow. It flew at Dosu with incredible speeds. He tried raising his arm to deflect the shot but it went straight threw the metal, flesh, and bone, into his stomach.

He let out a gasp of pain as he fell backwards. Looking at Furai he saw she had several more arrows ready. She numbered the shots and let them loss. Each hit him and in the end he was a heap filled with holes.

Hayate didn't even bother going over to see if Dosu could keep going, "winner. Furai Washi." He said. Furai sheathed the bow back on her back and walked to her comrades.

Kasai let out a sigh, "my turn." She said as the board revealed it was her turn.

"The next match will be Kaki Kasai Vs. Shino Aburame." Hayate said. Kasai looked at the mysterious boy and jumped down to the ground floor. Shino took his time and walk down.

"Begin." Hayate said. The two of them looked at each other. Kasai spook first.

"The Aburame clan is a clan of bug specialist. The bugs within the feed on chakra and live within the body. During the previous war your clan played a major role in spying as well as combating messengers. If I remember right you can even make clones from them." Kasai said finishing remembering everything she had heard about them.

Shino nodded his head, "I guess it's not surprising you know so much. So lets finish this." He said raising his hands. Bugs began to climb out of his jacket sleeve and crawled on him.

Kasai smirked and pulled out a matchbox. She lit a match and the fire intensified and swirled around her arm. She sent the fire at Shino and he dodged it.

"What jutsu is this?" he asked when out of the way.

"It isn't a jutsu." Kasai said, "it is my bloodline limit. The bloodline limit of the Kaki clan."

Kasai collected the fire and sent it in a blast at Shino. _Shit. _He thought. _Not enough time to dodge. _

The fire came and surrounded Shino and would have incinerated him Kasai hadn't dropped the flames temperature. By the time she called the flames back Shino collapsed, burnt but not enough that it was life threatening.

"Winner. Kasai Kaki." Hayate said. _Of them all, I think it is her team that I fear most. _Hayate thought as medics carried Shino away.

"The Final match up is, Subaku No Gaara Vs. Rock lee." Hayate said not even looking at the board. Lee punched his fist in the air and Gaara seemed to sigh.

They both made it down to the ground level. Gaara stared at lee with a bored look while lee gave him one of determination.

"Begin." Hayate said. Instantly lee began to charge at gaara. Once within ten feet of him he jumped up.

"Kohona whirlwind." He said spinning in midair. When the sand came up and blocked his attack lee was shocked. He landed on his feet only to find the sand coming down on him like a wave. Doing a back flip out of the way he managed to dodge.

_A technique that controls sand huh? Seems annoying. _Lee thought as he assumed his position. _Lets try it out! _He thought charging once again at Gaara. Lee tried a combination of multiple Tiajutsu moves but the sand easily blocked all. But when the sand came to attack him he sliced threw it with a kunai.

Lee went to kick gaara in the face to have the sand block again. As it came down he realized it was coming to attack him. Doing a series of rolls he got away and threw three kunai at gaara only to have them blocked again by the sand.

"What the heck is going on?" Shikamaru asked.

"Idiot." Naruto said. Saria looked down at gaara.

"Despite Gaara's will his sand will always shield and protect him. That is why no normal shinobi has _ever_ hit gaara." Saria said serious and never looking away from Gaara's bored face. Shikamaru felt sweet slid down his face and neck.

_Shit. He hasn't even moved yet. _Lee thought grinding his teeth.

"Is that it?" gaara asked catching lee's attention. Suddenly the sand began to run across the floor towards lee. Thinking quickly he jumped up thinking he had dodged the attack. But instead the sand seized him by his ankle and began to swing him around.

He landed hardly against the cement wall and winced in pain. Then he noticed a rush of sand coming at him. Rolling to his right he dodged and charged at Gaara again. He tried his Taijutsu again but nothing would get through the sand wall. When gaara got fed up with him he sent wave after wave to bring the annoying pest down and lee did flip after flip to avoid them. Only he slipped on the sand and when he was down gaara used that as a moment to attack. The sand formed into a hand and came to curse down on lee only lee was already in the air doing a back flip.

He landed on top of the fingers of two hands forming the tiger seal. He stopped there to glare at gaara who looked at him bored.

Kakashi let out a sigh. _He won't win like this. _He thought.

"All right lee. Take them off." Kakashi said casually.

"But, Kakashi-san! Gai-sensei only permitted me to take them off when protecting many important people." Lee said saluting.

Kakashi sighed, "don't worry about it. I think he wont mind it if I explain." He said. Lee seemed shocked but soon began to chuckle as he removed something hidden in his leg warmers.

"Alright! I can move easier now." lee said holding the weight before dropping them.

_Humph. Taking off some weights wont enable you to catch with Gaara's sand. _Saria thought just before the weights hit the ground.

A huge and load explosion came from where the weights were. The entire building shock violently and Naruto, who was leaning over the rail, nearly fell in Kasai hadn't grabbed him around the waist and pull him towards the wall.

Everyone but gaara seemed shocked by the force of the explosion.

"Alright!" lee said before jumping into the air. Gaara was surprised when he turned to look behind him and suddenly appeared behind him. One of lee's punches, aimed for his head was met by the sand but unlike before his punch went through the sand but did not hit Gaara as he finished his turn.

Lee disappeared and reappeared again and hit Gaara in the back but just like before the sand, bearly, stopped him. Lee continued his onslaught and almost hit gaara several times.

_No…no way! _Naruto thought as he watched the odd boy baffle Gaara. Hikari looked at the boy. _He's fast for a human. _Was all she could think to say.

When gaara was distracted trying to find where lee would appeared next lee jumped into the air and brought down a hard kick on Gaara's head. Gaara winced as they separated and a cut opened on his cheek. Lee skidded away from the sakura ninja and smirked at the sakura ninja's faces, who all were amazed shocked.

"Oh, shit." Kaira said as a sweet drop slid down her face. _No human shinobi has ever been able to get passed Gaara's defenses. _

"Lets go!" lee said as flames appeared in his eyes and he charged once more at gaara. Gaara swiped his hand over the path lee was running hoping to stop him, only to find lee hit him in the face from behind.

Gaara went flying and landed on his back. _Now I know that hurt. _Lee thought as he resumed position.

Gaara slowly got to his feet as sand poured out of his gourd. His arms hung loosely and lee noticed bits of sand falling from his face. Gaara's sand armor began to crumble around his mouth and one could see the pissed face that lay beneath.

The sand began to ripple more as Gaara continued to glare at lee. The sand came up and formed the armor around him again making him appear emotionless. Lee glared back at gaara.

"Is that all you've got?" gaara asked.

_What incredible guards. _Lee thought. _Even if I move quickly my attacks will have no effect. I have no choice but to apply greater force to the sand from above. Lotus will do. _Lee thought as he began to unwind the bandages on his arms. When they were of equal length he charged again at gaara, only this time he only ran around gaara.

"Come already." Gaara said when he got bored.

"As you wish." Lee said before turning towards gaara. He landed a kick straight to Gaara's jaw from below, sending him up into the air. Gaara looked at him shocked.

"I'm not done!" lee shouted as he continued his onslaught of upward kicks, each sending gaara further up into the sky. Lee went to make one more kick when he flinched in pain, closing his eyes. Opening them again he send the wrappings on his arms up to surround gaara in a cocoon. Grabbing gaara by the shoulders he flipped him upside down and began to rotate as they fell towards the ground.

"Take this. Secondary lotus!!!" lee shouted as their rotation picked up speed. They crashed into the ground with amazing power that shock the whole building.

_Shit. Were all screwed. _Kakuzu thought. _If gaara losses it, were done for._

Lee could be seen panting on the other side of the smoke looking to see his opponent. Gaara lay motionless in the crater his sand armor cracked everywhere.

"That should've hurt." Lee said smiling.

"He… he did it." Tsunade said shocked.

"Shit. This is really bad." Neji cursed. Shikamaru looked over at all the sakura ninja and saw all of them wore looks of worry.

Shikamaru looked back at the fight and saw gaara begin to crumble, latterly. The sand armor began to crumble revealing an empty shell.

"What!" lee said shocked.

"But how?" Shikamaru asked.

"When lee closed his eyes gaara quickly jumped out of his shell. Its not surprising you couldn't see it." Hikari said as sweet slid down her face. _Nonetheless, I really don't want to have to fight gaara. If anything we might end up killing him._

Lee heard the sound of sand sliding and looked behind him. Gaara rose from the sand with a crazed look. He made the seal of the tiger and the sand jumped at lee. Unable to move lee tried to block but was hit in the chest and thrown back. He tried rising but his body was still unable to move.

Taking advantage of that gaara sent more sand at him. Hit after hit lee took. Unable to dodge the sand he was thrown into the wall. Lee stood there and panted but then he smiled. Gaara sent another wave of sand at him but lee disappeared and reappeared out of harms way.

"What?" Hikari said shocked.

"What is it, Hikari?" Itachi asked.

Hikari gritted her teeth, "that attack he used earlier should have made so he couldn't move at all. Yet his movements… Does he want to die?" she asked glaring down at the boy.

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked

Hikari paused before answering, "it is said that the Lotus blossom will bloom twice and in the second bloom in will go beyond all of its former abilities. So basically, that idiot plans on releasing the eight inner gates." She said. Itachi's eye widened ever so slightly but the other Jonin looked utterly horrified.

"Oh, shit!" Tobi said looking back at lee as he dodged Gaara's attacks. Lee backed away from gaara and rested for a moment.

"I will beet you and prove I ma an excellent ninja." lee said as chakra began to form around him like a pillar.

"I don't know what you're trying but I will end this now." gaara said preparing.

"Yes." Lee said, "Either way the next move will decide who wins."

_I will not fail as well. _Lee thought remembering his fallen comrades. His chakra began to multiply as it grew more intense and his hair lifted. _I will… Win! _He thought as his chakra went level went through the roof.

Hikari gritted her teeth. _How ever taught you that move… was sending you to your grave. _She thought

"Third gate. Gate of life. Open!" lee said. His body glowed green while blue chakra swirled around him. Chunks of the floor lifted under the intense chakra.

"Gai. I've lost all respect for you." Kakashi said, as his last soldier got ready to attack.

"Fourth gate! Gate of wound, open!" lee shouted making everyone step back as his chakra went even more out of control. Lee charged at gaara with enough speed and forced to destroy the ground. He delivered and hard enough kick to Gaara's jaw that he went flying straight up.

"Damn it." Gaara cursed as his sand armor cracked.

"That sand armor again? Then how about this?" lee asked as he charged gaara. He hit gaara around like he would a beach ball and gaara was unable to move against it.

_Shit. Were all screwed. _Neji thought as he grabbed Kaira and held her, his back to the fight. Seeing Neji's movements everyone followed. Kiba did so to Furai, Naruto to Kasai, Yami to Dana, Itachi came and did so to Hikari, and Kakuzu came forward to protect Saria.

"This is the end!" lee said as he prepared his final attack, "fifth gate. Gate of forest. Open!"

Lee came at gaara. _No way! _Gaara thought. _Are these even human movements? _He thought before lee sent him hurtling towards the ground at amazing speeds. Then he felt his sash catch on something. Looking up he saw lee had a hold of it.

_This will end it! _Lee thought as he pulled gaara to him.

"Primary lotus!" he shouted as he brought down his left hand and foot to send Gaara crashing into the ground, sending a wave of debris at the on lookers.

Lee screamed in pain as what looked like lightning surged around his left arm and leg. Thinking quickly gaara began to break apart gourd. lee landed on the ground hard and was unable to stop rolling until the momentum wore off.

Itachi loosened on Hikari and looked down at the match. _What a crazy kid. _He thought looking back at Hikari. He was surprised to see her blushing madly.

Around him Furai, Dana, Kasai, and amazingly Kaira were all blushing.

"Tha… thank you." They managed as they pulled away from the guys and huddled around Saria, who looked worried. They all gave her a reassuring pat and looked back at the scene.

Gaara lay in a crater with the sand around his like a cradle. He looked over at lee with hate filled eyes. He struggled to raise his arm.

_He… he guarded himself with his gourd? _Anko thought impressed more then ever. Lee fought to get up as gaara willed the sand to attack again. He tried to move away but his body was ablaze in pain.

Gaara's sand formed into a hand and went to seize lee. _No way. _Lee thought. _I use primary lotus on that guy and he's still able to attack?_

The sand seized a hold of lee's right arm and leg. Gaara closed his fist.

"Dessert Coffin!" he called as the sand crushed lee's limbs. Lee screamed in pain as he felt his limbs be crushed. _No. I can't loss here. _Lee thought. _I must protect my way of the ninja._

Lee landed on the ground and skidded to a halt. Kakashi's eyes widened in fear as the sand continued to head towards lee.

"Shit." He cursed.

"Die." Gaara said as he got up.

He was surprised when the sand was swept away and revealed a determined Kakashi. Gaara looked at him in shock and felt something wrap around his waist. He looked back and saw it was Saria and standing behind her were all the other sakura ninja.

"Please. Stop." Saria begged holding him tighter. Gaara's look of shock passed and he felt the demon within him calm. The sand around him calmed and formed the gourd on his back. He lifted his arms and hugged Saria back.

"I'm sorry." He said before looking at the rest of them, "I broke our promise."

"No." Naruto said, "Our promise was to not use them for no reason. But you did what you did to get this far." Naruto looked over at the unconscious lee, "against a guy like him. Even I would have called upon him."

The other Jinchuuriki nodded their heads. Kaira walked over to Kakashi.

"When he wakes up, tell him we said congratulations. Other then one of our own no one was ever pushed gaara to such a limit. He should be proud. He almost did what no human shinobi can. He almost beat Gaara." She said watching the paramedics carry lee away.

Kakashi nodded, "I will tell him you said that. I will also make sure his teacher knows."

Kaira closed her eyes and nodded. "Get him to Tsunade quickly. He will need the most attention."

Kakashi and the medics rushed away and Hayate felt sweet slid down his face. _Great. At this rate Tsunade will be vexed. Not a single leaf genin will pass. But then again. All the leaf genin have been unfortunate enough to fight a sakura ninja._

Hayate walked over to Saria; "Because there are no more participants you will also move to the final event." he said stepping back so Anko could take over.

"Alright maggots." Anko said, "You all passed. Congrats. Each of you come forward and take one piece of paper from this box and tell me the number on the paper. Lets move!"

The sakura genin came down and Kasai was the first to take a number.

"Six." She said. Anko scribbled something down on her clipboard.

Rei stepped forward and picked a number, "twelve." He said.

Next was Hikari, "one."

Then Dana, "five." Kiba, "Nine." Kaira, "Four." Neji, "Eleven." Saria, "Eight." Gaara, "two." Naruto, "seven." Furai, "ten." Yami, "three." Dana, "five."

Anko nodded when she had all the names.

"This will be the order of the matches." She said turning the clipboard. The sakura genin weren't that shocked when they saw the match ups.

"Any questions?" Anko asked. None of them said anything, "alright. Then see you in a month."

He sakura genin raised their eyebrows and Hayate coughed, catching Anko's attention. She let out a sigh.

"Since you have revealed your skills to each other we have given you a month to improve and train. When that time is up and last part of the exams will take place." She explained.

"Wonderful! I was hoping to do a little training with Naruto anyway." Said an all to familiar voice.

"What the hell are you doing here? Hidan." Naruto asked turning to face his personal teacher. Naruto noticed Zetzu, Haku, Zabuza, Deidara, Sasori, Kisame, Kurei, and Shiro.

"Were here to take our students and train them for a month, idiot." Kurei said looking at Kasai and Furai, "so lets go. Time to train."

The sakura genin looked at each other, "great more hellish training." Kiba groaned as he and the rest of them followed their teachers out of the building.

Anko let out a sigh of relief, "I need a drink." She said disappearing, leaving the ruined arena.

* * *

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	10. the third exam

hey ya all thanks for the reviews ya all gave us. hope ya like the new chapter.

* * *

Hikari slipped on her shinobi shoes and tied her shing blades around her waist. The month of hells training was finally over and now it was time to finish off the Chunin exams.

Hikari looked over at Chi and found the cheetah was still sleeping. The sun bounced off the golden Egyptian bracelets that were around her paws and off the thick golden ring that was on her tail.

Hikari smirked and jumped on Chi, "wake up Chi! Its time to go finish these annoying Chunin exams."

The cheetah groaned and got up when Hikari got off her. She followed Hikari to the hallway that lead out the door.

Hikari stopped at the door to look into the room making sure it was clean. Once satisfied she stepped out of the room and went to lock the door she turned and jumped nearly ten feet in the air.

"Good morning." Itachi said to her.

"Morning." She said nervous. Chi seemed to grin evilly and kept on walking.

"I wanted so say good luck and to remind you not to underestimate anyone." He said with a hint of pink on his cheek.

"I'll… I'll do my best." She stuttered again. A small smirk came to Itachi's face.

"And keep your footing." He said as Hikari's face turned red.

"That… That was an accident." She said trying to force her blush down but was failing as the memory came to her.

--Flashback--

_The morning sun streamed over the forest, lighting up every leaf that was high enough to collect the morning dew. Hikari stood leaning on a tree for support. After her talk with the one named Might Gai she had gotten weights for her training._

"_Damn. I think three tons is to much." She said as she felt the weights pull towards the earths core, "but then again two tons was to light." She thought out load. Breathing in a big breath Hikari tied her shing blades back around her arms._

_Then just like that she was off, pumping as much chakra as she could so she could keep a steady pace at about one hundred miles per hour. Kurei had once told her that if she pumped all her chakra into her body she would be able to run from Kohona to Suna in about three minutes. Only thing was, after that she would be so tired she wouldn't be able to move for a week._

_Hikari smirked at the though and looked at the falling leaves of an oak. Testing herself she went to cut every leaf in half before they hit the ground. She did so quickly and without dropping her speed._

_She smirked in triumph; _I think I'm getting the hand of this. _She thought as she went to increase her speed a little more. After about five minutes of running like that Hikari felt her chakra was almost done and her legs were beginning to get to heavy again. Cursing she kept going, trying to increase her stamina. _

_The only thing is she didn't notice the tree root that stuck out of the ground. She went to step over it but stepped to shallow and thus she was flying around. _

_She felt every root, rock, and thorn press into her body. What she wasn't expecting was when she stopped feeling anything. Looking to see what was up she saw she was flying over a small drop off, no more then ten feet, and she was heading straight at someone._

"_Look out!" she cried. The figure turned and Hikari's heart skipped a beet. Itachi looked at her shocked but was even more shocked when her lips touched his. He fell backwards from the impact of Hikari tackling him. _

_Hikari moaned in pain and got up slowly._

"_Are you ok?" she asked Itachi. _

_She looked at him and saw he was blushing and she realized that she was one: on top of him and two: she was straddling his hips._

--End flashback--

"You definitely were bold in that move." Yami said with a fox like grin as he walked down the hall, Dana and Ryo at his side.

Hikari turned another shade of red, "it was an accident!" she cried before letting out a sigh in defeat, "I'm going now. Anko never told us what time to be at the arena for the final event. Besides I'm hungry."

Yami and Dana nodded. Yami walked by Itachi and poked him. With his attention he motioned towards Hikari. Itachi nodded and went ahead.

"What did you tell him?" Dana asked. Yami smirked and grabbed Dana by the waist pulling her towards him. She blushed a bit, which made him smirk.

"I told him to do the same thing to my lovely sister as I am to you." He said before kissing Dana lightly on the lips. She was blushing again but she smirked back at him and returned the kiss with her own. Once they broke apart Yami took Dana's hand and they walked out of the hotel to go get breakfast.

Ryo shook his head and walked ahead of the pair, wondering why humans were so… well odd.

---

"Hikari!" Itachi called. Hikari felt like she should run but restrained herself and turned to face Itachi. Even Chi stopped to see what the older Uchiha wanted. He caught up and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What is it?" she asked trying to keep her composure.

Itachi took off his necklace and put it in her hands. She looked at the necklace is shock and then at Itachi. He was blushing but he managed to kiss her gently.

"Those are for luck." He said blushing madly.

Chi stifled a giggle and sat down to watch her mistress turn another shade of red.

Hikari's face was beat red. She clutched the necklace and returned Itachi's kiss, much to his surprise. She broke away from him and smiled.

"There's no way I can loss now. Lets go Chi!" she said as she put the necklace on. Itachi smirked and watched as Hikari and Chi ran off to get breakfast.

---

Naruto put on his silver vest and walked out of his room. He stopped at the ramen shop he had discovered and wasn't shocked to find Neji, Kiba, Gaara, Saria, and Kaira there.

"Hay all!" Naruto called.

"Naruto!" Kiba said as he finished slurping his noodles. Naruto sat by his teammates.

"Hay another bowl over here!" Neji called.

"Roger that!" the owner said happily. He brought Naruto his order just as Hikari, Yami, and Dana walked into the shop.

"Ah! More of you? At this rate I could upgrade into a five star restaurant." He said jokingly. The Jinchuuriki laughed and the third team sat down to eat. Once everyone had an average of three bowls they sighed in content.

"Well. Thanks old man. How much?" Naruto asked.

"25000 ryo." The owner said.

Naruto nodded and pulled out his wallet. He paid the bill after arguing with everyone and they all headed for the arena. They passed by the hotel again and met up with Kasai, Furai, and Rei.

Kasai came over to Naruto and walked hand in hand with him. Kiba was talking away with Furai and Rei talked with Gaara. They all made it to the arena to find it was almost completely filled. They walked to the center of the arena and stood in a line facing Tsunade, Kurei, and Shinku.

Kurei smirked at the genin and they smirked back. It wasn't until Anko arrived that they knew it was time.

"Alright you maggots. Listen up. You already now the match ups. This is a tournament-based event. But even if you loss in the first round you sill have a chance at becoming a Chunin." Anko said, "and just like in the preliminary rounds these are fights to the death. If I feel one of you is clearly the winner then I will step in and end the match. Any questions?"

She was answered by silence.

"Alright." Anko said in a whisper before turning to Tsunade, Kurei, and Shinku. She nodded to them and Tsunade nodded back.

"Lets get this party started, eh?" Tsunade said as she stood up, "Thanks to everyone for coming to the Hidden leaf Chunin selection exams! We will now start the main tournament matches. Between the twelve participants who made it through the preliminary rounds! Please stay and watch until the end!" Tsunade finished sitting down again.

"Alright maggots." Anko said turning to face the sakura genin again, "This is the final test. So don't screw up. Our first fight is Hikari Nekoyomi Vs. Subaku no Gaara. Those two stay. The rest of you go to the waiting room."

"Heh. This will be a given match." Kiba said with a smirk. A shadow came over him for a moment causing him to look up, "well I be damned."

Neji and Naruto heard Kiba and looked in the direction he was. They were surprised to see Itachi, Kakuzu, Zabuza, Haku, Deidara, and Shiro.

"Looks like some of them went home to make sure no one thinks its easy pickings when we're not there." Neji said with a smirk. The other sakura ninja smirked with him. They weren't the only powerful ninja in Sakuragakura. And who ever thought otherwise would never see the light of another day.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Hikari. She remembered clearly how the girl had played with her mind. How she had threatened the lives of everyone she had cared for. _Hikari Nekoyomi. I will never let you do that to me again. I will get stronger and I will beat you one day. I guarantee that. _She vowed.

Sasuke glared down at Hikari from his spot next to Sakura. He knew Hikari and his brother were getting friendly. It was incredibly obvious. And he hated her for it. _Why should he have love when he killed the clan? _He question before a dark voice in his head answered. _He doesn't deserve it. He will die for what he did, and she should die for stopping you. We'll make sure of that._

Sasuke clenched his fist and looked into the waiting room where Naruto was holding Kasai in front of him as he waited for the match to start. Sasuke felt his jaw tighten at the scene of the one that almost killed him holding a girl. _That bastard. I'll kill him too. _He swore.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke and followed his line of vision to Naruto and Kasai. Her eyes narrowed on Naruto who she had heard, had almost killed the younger Uchiha. She pried her vision away and looked around. Her gaze stopped on two people that had just entered the area.

Lee and Gai came into the arena and sat in the back to get a good look at the fight.

"That him Lee?" Gai asked. Lee nodded his head. Gai watched Gaara closely before shifting his view to his opponent. He recognized her instantly. _That's that girl who wanted to know why Lee wore weights. Humph. She must have thought she could get Lee's level of speed but even if she never stopped for that entire month she still wouldn't be fast enough. _Gai concluded with a sad smile.

Hikari and Gaara stood within arms distance of each other while Anko stood between them.

"And now the first match! Begin!" she said as she jumped out of the way. Sand began to spill from Gaara's gourd, as he got ready.

"I know I wont win. But I wont just hand you the victory either." Gaara said, "and Hikari. Take me seriously and don't hold back."

Hikari smirked and drew her shing blades. She tied them around her arms, "fine by me. Play time Chi!" she said as she and Chi got ready to cut Gaara down.

Hikari and Chi both disappeared and Gaara brought up his sand to surround him like an eggshell.

Gai's eyes widened, "where is she?" he questioned aloud as he looked around.

"She is moving Gai-sensei. You see, Hikari-san is far faster then I. And I believe she may even be faster then you and I combined." Lee said as sweet began to run down his face. Gai looked at Lee shocked and looked back at the battle when he heard the sound of sand being shifted.

A huge tear appeared in Gaara's sand wall followed by many more. _A little longer. _Gaara thought as he concentrated on the time between every cut. _Now!_

Just as Gaara thought it he sent sand senbon shooting in every direction. Hikari skidded to a halt ten feet away from him and pulled out a sand senbon that was in her shoulder.

"Heh. Looks like you still want to fight." She said noticing Chi had four senbon in her. Hikari pulled out the only other sand senbon that had hit her from her stomach.

Saria closed her eyes and sat against the wall in the back of the waiting room. She wanted gaara to win but knew Hikari would win. Furai noticed her move away and went to sit by her, Kasai, Kaira, and Dana soon followed her. They all sat around her in silence and the guys looked at Saria with sorrowed eyes before turning back to the fight.

Gaara through another wave of sand senbon at Hikari and Chi. He noticed Chi was getting most of the hits and Hikari had been barley dodging them, receiving small cuts.

"Don't hold back on me Hikari." Gaara demanded.

"Who said I was." Hikari said with a smirk as she and Chi disappeared again. She began attacking irregularly looking for a way to end this without killing Gaara.

She went to dodge another wave of sand senbon when she noticed the wholes it left in Gaara's defenses. She stopped and watched as the sand senbon turned to loss sand and crawled back to gaara to fill the wholes they had made.

_I got it! _She thought disappearing. She began to attack in a regular pattern again and just like before Gaara sent out a wave of senbon. But this time Hikari didn't dodge them. In Fact she charged straight at Gaara's back. She broke through the weak wall of sand and was behind Gaara.

"Nice strategy, but I win." She said as Gaara turned to look at her shocked. She brought down the hilt of her sword on Gaara's head and he collapsed. Hikari caught him as the sand began to fall to the ground. She heard several sand ninja gasp and noticed the sand was beginning to ripple.

"You even think of it Ichibi and I swear you will know a new meaning of pain." Said a dark voice as Hikari's eyes turned blood red.

Gaara felt Ichibi recoil and fell into a harm sleep.

"Winner! Hikari Nekoyomi!" Anko said. The audience clapped but it was as if a robot was trying to cheer. Anko felt her face fall into a scowl. _They don't like the fact that it's all sakura ninja. _She thought.

Hikari picked up Gaara and turned towards the doctors, "I'll take him so relax." She said as she disappeared again. She reappeared in front of Saria and the other girls. She set Gaara down gently. She didn't look at Saria.

"Thank you Hikari." Saria said as she went to Gaara's side, "thank you for not hurting him. And I'm sorry that you got hurt." she said concerned about all the wholes in Hikari's close where sand senbon had been before Gaara lost conscious.

Hikari smiled kindly at her, "your welcome. And don't hurry about me, after all we all must look after each other."

Anko cleared her throat, "The second battle! Yami Nekoyomi Vs. Kaira Hoshigaki!"

Yami and Kaira looked at each other and smirked. They jumped down to the arena and waited. Anko stood between them.

"The second battle! Begin!" she said jumping out of the way. Kaira drew her sword from her back while Yami reached into his bag.

"Like Gaara said, don't hold back." Yami said.

"Otherwise you'll get killed." Kaira added with a smirk. Yami smirked as he notice several males in the area sitting on the edge of their seat to look at Kaira. And Kaira smirk grew wider when the girl sat on the edges of their seats to watch Yami.

"Lets start!" Yami said throwing down a smoke bomb and disappearing for Kaira's view. Kaira closed her eyes and focused.

Yami came to deliver a hard punch to Kaira's head but she dodged, "the disadvantage to your strength. It releases a lot of chakra just before impact. By tuning in to your chakra signature I can find you." She said as she brought her sword down on Yami's shoulder.

The sound of cloth and flesh ripping filled the arena and Ino flinched at the sound. Her father looked at her and placed a hand on hers. She looked at him and saw he had a determined look in his eyes. She felt her body relax and nodded thanks to her father. He smiled and looked back into the smoke cloud.

Yami held his shoulder where he had been cut. _Damn. That hurt. _He thought.

"Finding you will be easier now." Kaira said, "All I have to do is follow the scent of your blood."

"Good luck finding the scent then." Yami said as he pulled something out of his bag and disappeared again.

Kaira followed the scent of his blood when suddenly a new scent came to her nose.

Kiba sneezed, "Damn it. He had to use a perfume bomb." He complained as the scent bombarded his sensitive nose.

Kurei smirked. _Hiding the scent of your blood with perfume. Smart Yami. _She thought. Even Tsunade nodded in approval.

_Both Nekoyomi children are of Chunin level and are smart enough to be Chunin. _Tsunade thought, amazed once again by the strength of Kurei's young Genin.

Kaira scowled the she caught a metallic scent in the flowery smell that was around her. She brought her sword up to block one of Yami's punches. The sound of the ground cracking filled the air, leaving everyone curious of what happened.

Kaira gritted her teeth and grabbed a kunai with her free hand. She went to throw it at Yami when Ryo, using the Man-Beast clone, came from behind her.

Her eyes widened in shock and she mentally kicked herself.

"End it Ryo!" Yami shouted. Ryo brought his fist up and hit Kaira square in the back. Kaira bit back a scream of pain as she flew towards the wall. She prepared for a very hard landing but was amazed when Yami caught her by the collar of her shirt.

She gasped in pain as she fell on her back right where she knew a new bruise was forming. Yami drew a kunai and held it to her throat.

"Give up." He said. Kaira smirked.

"I'll get you next time." She swore as her vision went white in pain. Yami was surprised when Kaira went unconscious. He was even more surprised when Anko appeared.

"Winner! Yami Nekoyomi!" she said through the thin smoke. The audience was buzzing with talk. Everyone wanted to know what happed but because of the smoke no one could see. When it cleared up they only saw a Yami dispel revealing it to be a clone, Yami with a healing shoulder pick up Kaira, and Ryo return to his regular form.

Yami walked towards the waiting room and once there he set Kaira down against the wall.

"Is she alright?" Neji asked coming over.

"She should be. I caught her before she hit the wall so she should only have a bruised back." Yami said uncertain. Hikari came up behind him and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Idiot. She passed out from landing on that bruise. I mean I can see it and her shirt in still on!" Hikari said as the girls began to crowd around Kaira. Kasai removed Kaira's shirt, which made all the boys turn red and quickly look away. But it was Neji who had a bit of blood running down his nose to his chin.

The girls gently flipped Kaira to her side and saw the huge bruise she had gotten.

"Ouch." Furai said wincing, "I think even I would pass out it a landed on this after just getting it."

The other girls nodded in agreement as they looked at the bruise that covered Kaira's entire back. Saria took out a small bottle and unscrewed the top. Inside was a bluish-green jell that the girls began to spread over Kaira's back. It made a hissing sound as the bruise began to lighten and shrink.

"The third fight is Kasai Kaki Vs. Dana Torika." Anko pronounced. The two girls looked at each other before nodding.

"Go ahead. Kaira is fine now." Saria said as she closed the bottle. They looked at Kaira's back and saw Saria was right. The bruise was gone.

"That's some healing ointment you got there." Kasai said. Saria shook her head.

"Its not ointment. I made it to call upon our unique chakra and collect in the area the jell is when we're unconscious. Thus healing the damaged cells." Saria said.

"Heh. So it tells the demons where our bodies need healing." Dana said, "useful nonetheless."

"Kasai Kaki and Dana Torika! Get down here!" Anko shouted.

"Fine!" Dana shouted back as both girls jumped down to floor level.

"Excuse us for insuring a comrades health before coming to entertain you and these other pansies." Dana said getting a smirk from Shinku and a stifled laugh from Kasai.

The two girls took up their positions of about an arms length away from each other as Anko stood between them.

"The third match! Begin!" Anko said jumping away. Kasai took out a matchbox and light a match. The small fire instantly grew and surrounded her arm and crawled its way down her body until it looked like it was snaking around her.

Dana thrust her hands into the pouches at her hip and jumped away from Kasai as the flames intensified.

"Shall we?" Kasai asked. Dana smirked and brought her hands out of the pouches holding several small clay birds.

"Lets." She said before throwing them at Kasai. They came to life and charged the orange-eyed girl. Kasai smirked and the flames went to her arms and acted like tentacles. She swept the fire tentacles over the explosions and they detonated far to soon.

Dana wore a look of shock and Kasai smirked. Kasai took in a breath and blew it out in Dana's direction. A jet of flame went at Dana. Dana gritted her teeth and molded the clay with her chakra. The flames burned around Dana's area and Kasai stood ready.

Then Dana appeared flying in the sky above the flames. Her hair was scorched and her clothes burned a bit. She looked down at Kasai and smirked. Kasai smirked back and sent another wave of fire at the blonde girl.

Dana used her clay wings and flew all across the sky to dodge.

"How long do you plan on running?" Kasai asked.

"Who the hell said I was running?" Dana asked as she threw three very fast clay birds at Kasai. They easily spiraled down the flames but smaller tentacles sprout out and captured the birds causing them to detonate.

"Nice try. But not good enough." Kasai said smirking as two of her clones appeared just above Dana. They both smirked as they both brought their fists down on Dana's face. Kasai took advantage of the moment and sent a wave of fire at Dana.

Kasai leaned on her knees panting. _Damn. Using the Kaki blood limit on a third of my chakra is exhausting. I don't think I can hold up for much longer. _Kasai thought as she called the flames to her body. They came to her call uncontrollably and Kasai's eyes widened in shock. Where Dana's body was suppose to be a body of clay.

She felt Dana's chakra pulse from behind her. _Shit! _Kasai thought as she went to turn around.

"To late!" Dana said as she detonated two clay birds in Kasai's face. Kasai went flying into the wall and when the smoke cleared in was obvious she was unconscious.

Dana kneeled where she was panting heavily. _I really owe you one Deidara. If you hadn't taught me the clay clone Kasai would have won this one. _She thought silently thanking her brother.

Anko went over to Kasai to see if she was able to continue. Once done she stood up and said, "Winner! Dana Torika!"

The crowd applauded loader then they last had and Dana smirked. Yami came down and picked up Dana bridal style.

"You did great." He said noticing her burns were already beginning to heal. Dana smirked.

"Thanks." She said noticing Naruto pick up Kasai the same way Yami had her. Both males carried the girls back to the waiting room. Hikari had something in her hands and she handed it to Dana.

"What's this?" Dana asked eyeing the bag.

"Extra clothes. I knew you might need them." Hikari said with a smirk. Dana smirked and disappeared to change.

Naruto set Kasai down gently as Furai came over to inspect her. After a few agonizing seconds she pulled away.

"She's fine. Just got a bump on her head." Furai said with a small smile. Naruto nodded his thanks as Furai walked away.

"The fourth match up is Naruto Uzamaki Vs. Akasuna no Saria." Anko announced. Naruto looked over at Saria and saw her gently put Gaara's head back on the pillow she had made form his jacket. They both went down to the floor and waited for the start of the match.

"The fourth match! Begin!" Anko repeated jumping away.

Saria picked up the matchbox that Kasai had dropped in her previous match.

"I know I won't win this match but forfeiting just isn't an option." She said before lighting the match, "besides, I can test my strength." She said as the tiny flame grew around her just like it had around Kasai.

Naruto smirked and drew the staff on his back, "makes sense." He said as he pumped chakra into the staff turning it to his black scythe.

The two sakura smirked before Saria sent a wave of fire at Naruto. He sunk into a battle position before black chakra began collecting around the scythes edge.

_That stance! _Sasuke thought remembering what happened when he was on the receiving side of that stance.

"Black Death!" he said as the wave of black chakra cut through the wave of fire. Saria rolled to a side as the wave of chakra went at her. She sent a tentacle of fire at Naruto who dodged it and sent another blast of black chakra at Saria.

Both sakura ninja continued he pattern of dodge attack for at least five minutes and by that point both were beginning to pant.

"What's the matter Naruto? Getting tired?" Saria asked wickedly.

"I could ask you the same thing." Naruto said with a smirk, "now lets take it up a notch." He said as he made a very familiar hand sigh, "Shadow Clone!"

Seven more Naruto's appeared and around in a half circle.

"Try this on for size!" the Naruto's said as they all sunk into the same, "Attack of the Death Gods Army!" they all shouted as multiple waves of black chakra came at Saria.

_Shit! _She thought as she prepared herself for a very painful moment. Saria tried to dodge the attacks and she managed to get threw three of the waves before she was hit. The force pushed her back against the wall.

When the smoke cleared everyone saw she was still standing but she was bleeding from multiple cuts. She panted heavily as she leaned on the wall. The audience was amazed when she lifted a hand.

"I lose. He's to strong for me to take on." She said with a sad smile. Anko nodded her head.

"Winner! Naruto Uzamaki!" she said. The crowd was shocked to silence until someone began clapping, which in turn brought the others to clap as well. Saria breathed a small sigh of relief as her eyes changed to a dark red. Many people in the audience shifted uncomfortably as the wounds on Saria's chest began to rapidly heal themselves.

Saria went back to the waiting room followed by Naruto who was very happy to see both Kasai and Gaara had woken up.

"I just remembered. I keep salts in my bag." Dana said looking like a fool. Naruto felt a sweet drop fall down his face anime style.

"The fifth match up is Kiba Inuzuka Vs. Furai Washi!" Anko announced. A huge grin came to Kiba's face.

"Finally! I can fight now!" Kiba shouted happy. Furai smirked before she and Kiba jumped down to the arena floor.

"The fifth match! Begin!" Anko said.

"Lets go Akamaru!" Kiba said crouching as the dog jumped on his back, "Man-Beast Clone!" Kiba said as Akamaru turned into a beastly version of Kiba.

Furai smirked, drew her bow, and closed her eyes, "that wont work." She said softly.

"Don't underestimate me!" Kiba shouted as he and Akamaru came at Furai, "Fang Over Fang!" he called as he and Akamaru rotated at high speeds and headed towards Furai.

Furai opened her eyes and saw Kiba's movements slow down. She smirked as she saw the small openings in Kiba's jutsu and how they always were moving with his body. _A difficult shot. _She thought. _But a challenge, just what I needed. _

She memorized the small openings and quickly figured they would be when she stopped using her bloodline limit. Furai smirked and closed her eyes.

"Devine Strike: one!" Furai said as she opened her eyes. She quickly pulled back on the chakra string and sent her first arrow at Kiba.

"Those things only go one direction." Kiba said as he and Akamaru jumped away. The arrow flew into the wall behind him and Kiba began to rotate back into his Fang Over Fang jutsu. He was shocked when he looked at Furai again.

Furai had another chakra arrow ready and let it loss at Kiba, "try dodging in air." She said with a smirk. Kiba cursed as the arrow got closer and he was shocked when Akamaru jumped in front of him, receiving the blow to the shoulder.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted shocked.

_Akamaru? _Furai thought. Akamaru popped back into his true form and landed heavily on the ground. Kiba landed on his feet about ten feet away from him.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted worried. He went to check on his partner when another chakra arrow came at him. Kiba jumped away from the arrow and from Akamaru.

"Focus on your opponent." Furai said stepping between Kiba and a bleeding Akamaru. Furai turn her head to look at the white dog with sad eyes. Still facing Kiba Furai kneeled down and grabbed a hold of the arrow in Akamaru's shoulder.

She called the chakra back so the arrow would dispel and Akamaru wouldn't be in as much pain.

"just lay there and don't move. If you do you'll make it worst." She said over her shoulder as she pushed Akamaru down when he tried to get up. The dog gave up and just rested on the ground while Furai stood up.

Kiba looked at Furai completely and utterly shocked. _Why did she help Akamaru? _He wondered. _I guess I can ask later. _He thought as he crouched again.

"I'm going to end this!" Kiba said as he prepared another Fang Over Fang.

Furai drew back the string of her bow and another arrow appeared. _All I need to do is hit him with a lead arrow then I can end this. _She thought trying to ignore then sickening feeling in her stomach.

"Fang Over Fang!" Kiba shouted as he came at Furai. Furai calculated the weak point in Kiba's jutsu. When she found it she let loss her arrow. It flew true and straight aimed right where she wanted it.

The arrow hit Kiba in his shoulder and he cried out in pain as he stopped his assault. With her lead arrow in Furai release a bunch on shots at Kiba.

Seeing the arrows coming Kiba dodged them and smirked, "that wont work." He said.

"But it will." Furai said as she watched the arrows turn around and hit Kiba in the back. Kiba felt the arrows pierce threw him and he began to fall to the ground. _You have got to be shitting me. the first time I get to show off my skill and I get beaten? This is… fucked up. _He thought as he gave into the darkness that seeped into his vision.

"Winner! Furai Washi!" Anko announced. She was about to call for medics when the arrows sort of melted. And where wholes had just been was scar tissue.

"He'll have nice scars on his back at least." Furai said sheathing her bow.

"What the hell?" Anko asked.

"My chakra is easily changed. I commanded the chakra in those arrows to match Kiba's chakra so they would heal the wounds. Don't you know? Its part of the I-gurugan's side powers." Furai said picking up Kiba, "Hay Ryo! Come pick up Akamaru would you?"

The said tiger opened a lazy eye before getting up to carry the wounded dog up.

Anko shock her head unsure, "the sixth match! Neji Hyuuga Vs. Rei Youma!" she announced.

Neji and Rei both walked down to the arena, passing Furai on the way. She nodded to them and they nodded back.

Sasuke was beginning to get impatient. He knew it was almost time and he couldn't wait.

"I'll be back Sakura." He said to the pink haired girl. She looked at him worried but nodded her head. Sasuke left his seat with an evil smile. That Sakura tried to ignore.

Furai set down Kiba and went to heal Akamaru's shoulder.

"Hay kasai." Hikari said, "lets go get a shirt from the hotel for Kiba. His is kind of Swiss cheese." She joked.

Kasai looked up at Naruto, who was holding her in front of him, "Be back. Hikari is right after all." She said smiling at the blonde. Naruto looked like he didn't want to let go but he breath a sigh and release the girl.

Kasai giggled and lightly pecked Naruto's cheek, "be back soon." She said. Naruto smirked and watched as Kasai and Hikari left the waiting room, trying to ignore the sense that something bad was about to happen.

Kasai and Hikari walked down the hall way and Kasai was teasing Hikari about her growing relationship with Itachi. They were about to turn a corner when some one hit Hikari in the stomach and another put a cloth over Kasai's mouth.

Kasai fought for breath but she soon gave into the powerful scent and fell unconscious.

_Shit. _Hikari thought. _I can't feel Hachibi's presence. _She thought as a cloth came over her face. _This isn't good._

---

Anko stood between Neji and Rei ready to start the battle.

"The sixth match! Be…" she was cut off when a large explosion went off was above the arena. Several people screamed when they saw the figure that was appearing out of the smoke.

"You." Anko, Kurei, and Tsunade all managed to say at the same time.

"Hello Kohona." A dark creepy voice said. The figure licked his lips with an unusually long tongue.

* * *

wel that's it for now. and if you want a character profile of the oc's then just review and say so.

please review.


	11. the invasion 1

yo here's the new chapter. thanks for the revieuws and a merry chrismas.

* * *

Kurei, Shinku, and Tsunade jumped off the balcony and onto the roof so they could face Orichimaru head on. And Kurei felt her blood begin to boil as she looked up at snake-obsessed sanin.

"You." She said quietly, gritting her teeth slightly.

"Fufu. Its been a while Tsunade." He said in a creepy voice before turning to Kurei, "Well. What a treat. The last time I saw you little Kurei, I was ending the life of your pathetic brother."

"Orichimaru!" Tsunade shouted feeling her own temper slipping. She could feel the ground beginning to vibrate ever so slightly beneath Kurei.

Orichimaru smirked again as he too felt Kurei's chakra beginning to go haywire.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kurei. Are you still a bit sensitive when it comes to the topic of your brother?" he asked knowing that sensitive was an understatement.

"Damn you." She whispered before her chakra began to make the wood grow from beneath her, "this time. I'll kill you!"

Unable to hold back the years of hate she had against the sanin, Kurei charged.

---

Neji sent another senbon towards a sound shinobi. When the opposing ninja blocked the senbon, Neji appeared next to him and cut open his throat. He paused for a moment to look around with his Byakugan.

He saw Kurei charge at a weird looking man with an insane amount of charka. _Damn it. I wont be of any help to Kurei-sama. _He thought before turning his gaze around. He saw Rei pulling an unsuspecting sound ninja into the ground and letting the poor ninja go. Neji had to look away as the poor man began to blend with the ground.

He looked around some more and saw a sound ninja coming from behind him. Drawing a handful of senbon he sent them flying at the ninja, killing them. With the threat gone he went back to searching for the others.

Yami was pounding another's bones into powder with Ryo. Dana soared above the village tackling the giant snake that somehow managed to come crashing down on the east gate.

He saw Kaira holding off three other sound ninja while Saria and Gaara fought not far off, back-to-back.

Furai shot three arrows, two of which hit their marks while the last embedded itself into a building wall. Naruto and Kiba were with the civilians guiding them to the shelters so they wouldn't get in the way.

Neji looked around the leaf village frantically. _Where are Kasai and Hikari? _He thought. When he couldn't find them he knew something was wrong. Gritting his teeth, Neji headed over towards Gaara and Saria.

When he was close he found a sound ninja closing in on the weakened Saria, who was on her knees. He noticed that Gaara was busy so he sent three senbon toward the sound ninja, which killed him before they could harm Saria.

"Neji?" Saria said shocked but relieved that she had been saved although she didn't really need to be. Gaara quickly finished off the group of ninja that had separated him from Saria and ran over to her.

"Thank you Neji." Gaara said kneeling down to Saria.

"Gaara I need you to shield me for a few minutes." Neji said before letting loss more senbon to kill another Sound ninja that was coming at the group, "There's no time to explain."

Gaara nodded and turned to face off against another opponent. Saria nodded and faced the group of shinobi to Gaara's back. Neji stood in-between Saria and Gaara and focused chakra to his eyes.

He scanned the village once more looking for the two missing sakura genin. When he couldn't find them in the village he focused even harder to search further away. But what he saw infuriated and horrified him at the same time.

"Shit. This is bad." He said before catching sight of Rei just below them, "Rei!"

The Youma boy came up out of the ground.

"What?" He asked somewhat irritated.

"Naruto is on the Hokage monument. Find him and tell him to at the north gate. Hurry!" Neji instructed before heading towards the area in town masked in Itachi's chakra.

Once within the area Neji found himself in the market place but it was empty and dead silent.

"Itachi-sama! It's me! Neji!" he called knowing if he didn't make himself known as an ally he would end up dead like the others.

"Neji? What are you doing here?" asked the sakura jonin as he materialized out of the ground.

"Come with me! Quickly!" Neji said frantically as he headed in the direction of the north gate. Itachi, curious to know what had upset the usually cool-headed genin, followed.

When they got to the gate Naruto was already there and was finishing off a group of sound ninja.

"Hoi! Neji! Rei told me to meet you here. But what's up?" he asked.

"First off you both must swear you wont go ballistic when I tell you this." Neji said. When the blonde and older Uchiha nodded he continued, "Itachi. Your little brother and Kabuto are about three miles north from here and they are traveling at an incredibly fast pace. If you don't hurry they'll get away."

"That's fine by me. If he thinks going to Orichimaru will give him the strength to beat me then I don't care where my brother goes." Itachi said in the most uncaring way.

"And I don't know anyone named Kabuto so why should I care?" Naruto asked with a look of boredom.

"Because you Baka! Sasuke has Hikari and Kabuto has Kasai!" Neji said trying to get the two to understand, "Now go! Go straight north. There's no one to get in the way."

Neji drew four senbon in each hand and threw them at another sound ninja that had come from the village.

"Get going!" he said before charging back into battle.

---

Kurei felt the sharp sting of a sword slashing threw her arm. _Damn it. _She cursed as Tsunade threw her out of the threatening blade that would have killed her. Flipping in mid-air she landed on her feet and skidded until Shinku came from behind her and help stop her.

"Are you alright Kurei-sama?" Shinku asked concerned.

"Fine" Kurei said as she stood up. She watched as Tsunade and Orichimaru fought each other. _There's no way I'll be able to keep up with them at this level. _She thought.

"Shinku. Please stand back." Kurei said softly. Shinku looked at her shocked for a moment but she did as she was instructed.

Kurei made several hand signs and Shinku could see Kurei's chakra lashing around her. In every spot that the chakra hit the ground, new plants sprung up and lashed around just like her chakra. Within moments the plants had formed a sort of plant shield around her. Shinku focused her sight and looked into the shield. The plants shot away from Kurei revealing her in her most powerful form.

Kurei had a vine tattoo that ran all along her body and the very plants that had shielded her were now connected to her forearms and were imbedding into her hands until they too looked like they were part of the tattoo.

"No… no way." Shinku whispered sensing the huge amount of chakra that pulsed along the vines and throughout her body.

Kurei turned to look back at Shinku's shocked face and smiled kindly.

"What did you expect, Shinku? I am the Sakurakage." She said mockingly before turning back to glare at Orichimaru.

Orichimaru jumped away from Tsunade and felt a huge pulse of chakra. Surprised, he looked over at the source and was even more shocked when he saw the vines fuse into Kurei's hands.

Tsunade frowned as she looked over at Kurei. _This wont end good for Kurei. _She thought before looking back at he old comrade. She couldn't help but smirk at Orichimaru's shocked look.

"What do you think she's been doing all these years? Twiddling her thumbs?" Tsunade asked mockingly. Orichimaru looked over at her and smirked.

"Your student is impressive as ever." Orichimaru said as he made more hand signs.

Kurei saw Orichimaru make hand signs and knew he was making a big move. She quickly threw her arm out at the snake sanin. Two thin vines flew off her arm and flew at blinding speeds at Orichimaru.

Orichimaru felt something pierce threw his shoulder. He looked over and was shocked to see it was a rose vine. He followed it down to Kurei who was smirking. Orichimaru then felt a build of chakra coming at him and turned just in time to see Tsunade's punch before it crashed into his face.

He flew off the rose vine and was in the air.

"Shinku. Clip his wings." Kurei said. Shinku smiled tiredly.

"Hai, Kurei-sama." She said before drawing two kunai and slashing both her wrists. With her wrists cut open she dropped the blades and swept her hand towards Orichimaru's flying body.

What looked like a crimson red blade flew at the snake sanin and slashed his back open when it came in contact. Orichimaru gritted his teeth as pain ran through his body again and he had to smile. He opened his mouth and shed his skin.

Healed from his other wounds he charged at Tsunade. _If I take down the strongest first then the other two will be easy to kill. _He thought as a sword sprung from his mouth and towards Tsunade.

Seeing the attack Tsunade jumped away, avoiding the attack. But she was shocked when Orichimaru sent a spray of kunai and shuriken at her. _Damn it! _She thought as she crossed her arms over her face and chest to protect the more vulnerable spots off her neck and face.

But both sanin were surprised when a crimson wall came up from bellow and blocked the weapons.

"Don't underestimate the power of the Chishio clan." Shinku said sending another crimson blade at the snake sanin. Orichimaru smirked and shed his skin once more so his odd one was caught in the attack. But before he knew it, there were several vines wrapping around his body.

"Stop struggling." Kurei said glaring, "together we out power you."

Orichimaru began to chuckle as his chakra began to lash around him.

"I didn't really think." He said as his skin got paler and his body began to jerk unnaturally, "I didn't think I would have to use this power to destroy you all."

The three woman's eyes widened as Orichimaru transformed into a giant white snake but it was not his transformation that shocked them. It was the red and purple pillars of chakra coming from the north gate.

Kurei, immediately recognizing the chakra, felt a shiver run down her spine. _Oh, shit. _She thought before hearing the sound of plants being up rooted. Looking back at the snake sanin, she went to pin him again.

Orichimaru slithered away from the vines and went after Shinku, who was still recovering from the massive pulse of chakra.

"Shinku!" Kurei shouted. The said woman snapped into reality and threw up a shield.

"This is quite the interesting ability. What is it?" the white snake asked.

"It's the Chishio clan blood limit." Shinku said, "It allows me to control my blood and use it as a weapon."

"Oh, really? Interesting. I'll have to run some experiments on your corpse later."

"Keep dreaming." Shinku said sending another blood blade at the snake sanin. Orichimaru dodged the blade and went to kill the Chishio clan leader when several vines stabbed into his body and pinned him to the ground.

"If you think I was going to let you take one of my shinobi's, you're dead wrong." Kurei said before she clenched her chest with a look of pain. _Shit. I'm at my limit. _She thought.

"You little bitch." Orichimaru said sensing his minions being killed off rapidly.

"Its over. We win and your followers are being killed off." Tsunade said, her fingers itching to go heal Kurei from whatever injuries her transformation was giving her.

"Fufu. I guess I did loss, this time. The next time we meet I will destroy the leaf and then I'll come after your little pets, Kurei. I'll make them do my bidding." Orichimaru said with a crazed look as he began to seep into the ground.

"You'll never have them." Kurei panted feeling her body beginning to break down, "I wont let you."

Orichimaru smirked as he completely dissolved into the ground and with him gone Kurei devolved to her normal form and begin to cough up blood.

"Kurei!" Tsunade shouted worried before running over to her old student to heal her.

"Kurei-sama." Shinku said worried as she stood back so Tsunade could do her work.

_I won't let you harm them, you bastard. _Kurei thought as white began to form around her vision. _I will protect everyone in our home. I will protect the citizens on Sakuragakura. _She thought before passing out completely.

---

Naruto looked out to the world that was only colored red. He didn't know who this Kabuto guy was but he was going to rip him into tiny pieces and then kick the bastard's soul to hell.

_No mercy! Just death! _He thought repeatedly in his head as he charged in the direction that Neji had told him to go, Itachi not far behind him. His Sharingan glowed with the same hatred as much as his demonic red eyes and purple chakra swirling around him like the red chakra making a fox shape around his.

"This time. I'll kill that Emo Bastard!" Naruto shouted running faster.

* * *

hope ya liked it and my cousin Akira is going to do the profiles of the oc. it will be done by the next chapter so if you want to go to her profile just look by our fav. authorors and go to shadowshearts profile. that's it for now. bye, the shinata twins. 


	12. the invasion 2

hey ya all next chapter is finally done. sorry for the long wait. oh and there is an important vote on Shadowshearts profile. you can find it as a second chapter. oh and the vote is important for later chapters and the sequel. enjoy.

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He ran so fast and so blindly, the ground nearly tore up as he passed by. Naruto had lost all sense of who he was. The only thing he knew was someone precious to him was being threatened by a guy named Kabuto and that he had to kill the guy for it. He recalled what the person he was protecting looked like and he felt another surge of power swell from within him. He felt it fill his body and he let out a cry in anger and sped up to catch his prey.

---

Sasuke smirked when he felt an immense chakra coming from Kohona. He stopped on a branch and turned to face the direction that he knew his brother was coming from.

"Will you hurry up?" Kabuto demanded nervous by the huge amounts of chakra that were speeding towards them.

"You go ahead." Sasuke said insanely, "I'm going to kill my brother and this girl is just an addition to the pain I'll cause him."

Kabuto looked at the younger Uchiha then over in the direction he knew kyuubi and Itachi were coming from.

"You want to get yourself killed fine. I'm getting out of here." He said before pumping as much chakra to his feet as he could to run. Sasuke smirked, _Your time is up, Itachi! _He thought before preparing his trap.

---

Itachi looked ahead and felt his blood boil he speed up his pace so he was next to naruto who he knew was no longer himself. He reached out and grabbed the boy by the collar and ignored the intense burning he felt on his hand.

Naruto looked back at him with hate filled eyes and Itachi returned the look.

"Listen to me. The one you seek is heading north. With your power you should be able to catch up to him quickly." he said before pointing to a creak near by, "if you run as fast as you can and follow that, you'll be able to catch up to them. Now go."

Naruto looked at him oddly but he nodded his head in understanding. If that guy was right, then following the river meant getting closer to his pray. He jumped over to the waters bank and began to run as recklessly as he had before.

_With him gone, you wont be able to sense me. _Itachi thought as he suppressed his chakra to its limits and planned how many different ways he could teach his brother not to mess with him without killing him.

---

Sasuke frowned when he felt the huge pulse of chakra start to head in the direction Kabuto had gone.

"Where is he going?" he said softly to himself.

"Naruto is going after Kasai." A dark voice said from the shadows.

"So you're here all ready?" Sasuke said with an insane look on his face. Itachi stepped out of the shadows behind him and glared at him with his sharingan.

"You have over stepped your boundaries little brother. You were to try and slay me. Not get innocent people killed." Itachi said with a cool a voice as he could.

"What makes her so innocent? She spends most of her time with you! You! The same person who killed off everyone in our clan but me! If you think that you can run from me by getting close to this girl, then I'll do the same thing you did to me! I'll kill her right in front of you!" Sasuke said before revealing Hikari.

She was tied up with thin metal wires wrapped around her entire body and on those wires were explosion tags. Itachi knew that a look of shock and horror came to his face but he couldn't help it but just as quickly as the look of shock came a look of rage replaced it.

"She has nothing to do with it! Leader decided to give our strength to Sakuragakura which means that I have to follow every order given to me by Kurei! Hikari is nothing more then my student!" Itachi shouted back trying to think of a way to save Hikari.

"Is she? Then why is it every time she walks by you she blushes and you watch her until she's out of your sight? Don't play this bullshit Itachi!" Sasuke demanded. Itachi watched his brother cooly.

Thinking back his brother was right. He did watch Hikari whenever he could. _Damn it. How could I have been so stupid? _He questioned. He closed his eyes as he calmed himself down.

"I have no idea why she acts so. I am here on orders to bring her back. Besides, I have been wondering how strong you have gotten while alone all this time." Itachi said as he opened his eyes. From beneath his Akatsuki robes Itachi drew a hand full of shuriken and threw them at his brother, "Lets find out!"

"Don't underestimate me!" Sasuke shouted as he dodged the shuriken and began collecting chakra to his hand.

---

Naruto stopped at a giant fall. On both sides were giant statues of two people. One he didn't recognize but the other was the first Hokage. He knew this was the border for the fire country and he also knew if this guy Kabuto was going to get away then this was most likely the place he would head and he was right.

On the other side of the bank naruto saw a small camp of people. But best of all, all those people were sound ninja. Naruto smirked as he realized he had beet his prey to their refuge. And what was better, when they did get there they wouldn't find refuge. They'd find him and a pile of corpses.

Grinning a grin of insane pleasure, Naruto headed into the sound camp to massacre every person wearing a sound headband.

---

Kabuto felt a sense of dread fill him as he headed for the randevu point. Behind him were two more sound ninja and both didn't seem to feel uneasy so Kabuto brushed the feeling off.

He came to a stop when they broke free of the forest and were on the river bank.

"This way." he said to the other two ninja. He headed north as quickly as he could. Yet the closer he came to his freedom the more the sense of dread filled him. _Why wont this feeling go away? _He questioned. Gritting his teeth in frustration Kabuto speed up the pace almost leaving behind te two sound ninja following him.

Kabuto smiled when he heard the sound of rushing water. But the look of triumph quickly faded when he saw the camp of escorts. He stood frozen as the other two caught up to him and also fell silent.

Before them the camp was a rune. The tents torn were claws had cut threw them, blood decorated the torn cloth, and the ground was littered with corpses.

"What...What the hell happened?" Asked the ninja the carried Kasai.

"Silence." Kabuto ordered. He couldn't pin point it but he could hear something. It was like a small chant. Unwillingly Kabuto followed the sound into the small camp. He walked past the bodies of his comrades as they lie there dead or dying.

He came to a stop outside of a tent that the almost silent chant was coming from. He stood in front of the tent for a moment before his hand went to move the flap so he could enter. He slowly raised the flap to look in side, his heart pounding in his chest.

But when he fully opened the flap he found there was nothing inside the tent. _Wh...What? _He thought before his eyes went wide. Behind him he heard a blood curtailing scream of pain.

"What the..." the other sound ninja asked before he was stopped. Kabuto stood where he was frozen. He knew his face was white, his face in an expression of pure horror, and that his hands were shaking violently.

_Move. _He thought. _Damn it move. If I don't get my body to run, I'll be next. Move! Move!_ Kabuto thought as he slowly began to turn around. When he had turned enough to look behind him his eyes went wide and his breathing became labored.

Naruto with three tails was setting Kasai down on the ground gently before turning to Kabuto and glaring at him with his demonic red eyes. Kabuto watched as naruto turned to face him on all fours and heard him chanting something softly.

When he listened hard enough he was able to make out what naruto was saying and it terrified him.

Naruto smiled when he caught the scent of fear coming from the man in front of him.

"Kill." he said softly, "you bastard. I'll kill you!!!"

Naruto charged at Kabuto with an insane look. Curling his fingers, Naruto went to slash the mans throat out.

Yet he missed. In his pain kabuto jumped back and away from Naruto's attack. Naruto looked at his empty hand then back at kabuto and an insane smile came to his face.

"You might be fun to kill." he said before repeating his earlier attack. _Calm down. _Kabuto thought. _If I keep my cool I might be able to fight him long enough to run. _

As Kabuto dodged Naruto's wild attack again he charged chakra to his hand and went to cut naruto off from kyuubi. However, Kabuto's attack was halted the moment his hand touched the chakra that surrounded Naruto. Naruto came to a halt and turned to Kabuto chuckling sinisterly.

"Did you think you could actually touch me? Idiot! My body is being surrounded by demonic chakra!" Naruto said with a smirk. Kabuto cradled the hand that he had used to try and attack Naruto with. When he held it up to look at it he was shocked to find it was nearly burnt to a crisp.

_Shit. There's no way out. I'm going to be killed. _Kabuto thought as panic began to rise in his chest. Naruto smiled as the scent of fear came once again to his prey.

"I'm scary aren't I?" he questioned, "But don't worry. You won't live to long."

Naruto quickly made some hand signs before calling out his jutsu, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" he shouted as several more replicas of him appeared. Kabuto gritted his teeth as he stood on his feet. _Have to stay calm. Have to think of a way out. _He chanted in his head as he prepared for Naruto's attack.

---

Sasuke leaned on a tree trying desperately to get air in his lungs. _Shit. How is he still so strong? _He questioned.

"Hiding won't save you." Itachi's voice said. Sasuke's eyes grew wider as he slowly looked up to look straight into his brothers Sharingan. Quickly activating his own Sharingan, Sasuke dodged Itachi's attack.

"Who said I was hiding?" Sasuke asked with a smirk. Drawing a kunai he threw it to his right where it cut a nearly invisible string. Itachi remained where he was even as two huge logs came towards him. It wasn't until just before they would have hit him that he dodged and appeared behind Sasuke.

"Fool." he said quietly before slashing Sasuke's back open with a kunai. Jumping away to avoid more attacks, Sasuke skidded to a halt and grasped his shoulder where it was bleeding. Itachi straightened up as he glared at his little brother, his sharingan deactivated.

"Your still pathetic, Sasuke. You cling to your life by trying to capture me in traps but it won't work." Itachi said cooly. Sasuke avoided looking into his brothers eyes.

"Heh." He said as he smirked, "Who said they haven't worked?"

Itachi felt his body stiffen. There was an intense pain, and it was coming from his right shoulder. He felt a warm liquid sliding down his arm as he slowly turned to look behind him. Sasuke smirked as hid brother turned to look at him.

"You underestimate me, Itachi. Deactivating your sharingan like that. It was your biggest mistake." He said as he pulled the kunai he had pierced into his brothers shoulder, out. Itachi quickly turn once his brother had removed the kunai and swiped him with his hand.

The sasuke disappeared into a puff of smoke and while Itachi's back was turned, the sasuke that had been cut on his back came up behind his brother with a kunai. Aimed for his heart. Itachi looked back at his brother as he prepared to run his heart through with the kunai and quickly swiped his bleeding arm.

Sasuke cursed as blood got in his eyes, but he cursed more when Itachi used his temporary blindness to get away. Itachi jumped over to where Hikari was tied up and skidded to a halt. He looked up at his little brother and was shocked when his vison began going in and out. _You have to be fucking kidding me._ He thought as he kneeled to breath.\

Sasuke rubbed the blood off his eyes and turned to his brother. He was delighted to see him on a knee and panting.

"What's the matter Itachi? Am I stronger then you thought?" Sasuke asked as he through the kunai he had at his brother. Itachi went to catch the kunai when he felt a pulse of chakra.

Blood splattered on the ground as the kunai cut into flesh.

---

Hikari felt like she was drifting in an incredibly dense liquid. _Why?... Why is it so hard to breath? Why am I so tired? _She questioned as her sight went in and out. _What are those voices? Why does one sound so familiar?_ She questioned as she strained to find the source of the soothing sound.

She looked around and could see two blurs. One was further off and when her vision was the clearest all she could see was black hair and a navy blue shirt. And when that person spoke Hikari found herself wanting to recoil.

She looked at the person in front of her and instantly felt a sense of comfort. _Who is that? Why do I feel so safe in his presence?_ Hikari watched as the person further off threw something towards the person in front of her. Hikari sent chakra down her arm to try and shield the person in front of her but she was too slow.

Hikari's eyes widened when she felt something warm splatter on her face. Touching the spot were it began to run down her face, she was shocked to find it was blood.

She looked ahead of her at the person the blood had come and her eyes went wide. Her vision instantly became clear. The events that had happened moments before were suddenly fresh in her mind.

Itachi gasped when the kunai pierced his left shoulder and he grabbed the injury.

"Heh." Sasuke smirked as he deactivated his sharingan, "Looks like you've lost your touch."

He drew a kunai and slowly began to walk towards his brother.

"This will end it." He said as he threw the kunai at Itachi's chest. Itachi motioned to catch the kunai but when it was suppose to be in his hand he found it wasn't.

Sasuke looked at the person in front of him like he was seeing a ghost.

"You bastard." Hikari whispered. She was standing in front of Itachi and in her hand was the kunai Sasuke had just thrown. Sliding off her body were the metal wires that had kept her suspended off the ground.

"How did you get down?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"I'm going to... I'm going to..." Hikari said feeling her anger grew with every word he said.

Sasuke smirked, "Your going to what?" he asked with a sneer.

Hikari felt her body beginning to tense as she glared at the younger Uchiha. Her chakra was beginning to feel more like boiling water and Hikari knew what was about to happen. But seeing what the Emo-boy did to Itachi. She didn't care.

"You bastard." She said softly before hunching over and crossing her arms in front of her body, "I'll kill you!!!

Hikari felt Hachibi's chakra shatter the five prong seal and fill her body with an intense amount of chakra but that was the last thing she felt or saw before she lost it.

---

Kasai awoke feeling herself leaning on someone. The whole right side of her body that was against, whoever she was leaning on, was warm and felt wet. Kasai slowly opened her eyes to look around her. She was in a tree over looking a waterfall.

"So beautiful." She said softly to herself.

"Ah, you are." A male voice said from behind her. Turning her head Kasai was shocked to see Naruto. But it wasn't the fact that he was there that shocked her, it was that he was covered in blood.

"Naruto!" she said completely turning her body. It was then that she realized that it was Naruto's blood that made the right side of her body so warm. Naruto looked at her with distance eyes and smiled.

"Its ok. I'm fine. Just tired." He said softly.

"Bull shit! Your going to die of blood loss!" Kasai shouted as she went to wrap one of Naruto's arms around her shoulders, "Come on. We need to get you to the hospital."

Naruto nodded and Kasai headed for the leaf village passing by the destroyed camp on her way. Yet she paid it no attention. All that she could think about was getting naruto to safety.

---

Itachi watched in complete amazement. He had never seen Hikari go this far with Hachibi's chakra and it terrified him. He knew exactly what happened to Naruto every time he lost it and he was worried about Hikari's well being.

But at least she was beating the crap out of Sasuke. In fact Sasuke was laying on the floor covered in his own blood and gasping for breath. Hikari stood over him with a chakra cloak that had a split tail and was quickly growing a third.

"Bastard." She whispered like a chant. She raised a clawed hand and it looked as if she were to give Sasuke the death blow when Itachi appeared behind her and wrapped her in his arms.

"Enough Hikari." he said soothingly. Hikari looked back at him and saw the worry in his eyes and as if that look were a command, Hachibi's chakra resided. Itachi caught Hikari as she fell unconscious and gritted his teeth when her clothes rubbed against his now heavily burnt chest.

He put Hikari on his back and went to run them back to Kohona where he would find medical attention for her. But he was stopped when he felt something grab his foot. Looking back he saw it was Sasuke.

"Damn it. I'm not done yet." Sasuke said threw clenched teeth. Itachi ignored him as he kicked his hand off his ankle and began the long, hellish run back to kohona. Leaving his brother to ponder his own uselessness.

---

By the time the invasion was over the number of dead ninja was substantial. The number injures just as bad. But nevertheless the Leaf survived and so did all the Sakura genin; who were all promoted to chunin a few days later. It became common knowledge Sasuke left the sound for Orichimaru and that he swore to kill Itachi and Hikari but neither cared.

For a while peace settled over the Sakura Ninja and their close allies the Leaf.

But they soon found out, that peace doesn't last forever.

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wel hope ya liked the chapter. please review. 


	13. unabara

hey ya all here's the new chapter. sorry for the long wait. also if you like full metal alchemist, we now have a story for that to. hope ya like the chapter and please review. bye, the Shinata twins.

* * *

Kurei leaned back in her chair and let out a long sigh. _Why didn't Tsunade tell me being a kage involved so much paperwork? _She questioned as she turned her chair to look out at Sakuragakura.

Over the past five years Sakuragakura had become the village were one could start over with a fresh start. Many missing ninja had come to Sakuragakura and found a liking to its calm yet bustling life style.

After Kurei had spent a few days in kohona hospital she came back to Sakuragakura to find that as a get well gift the newly promoted chunin and their comrades had build her a house that could rival any of the kages.

After Kurei's house was done the gang went into upgrading Sakuragakura's over all structure and housing. This took them almost a year to complete but the village was ready for any attack that came from its now always open gates.

With the modifications, beautiful Sakura trees, and the sandy beaches Sakuragakura also became a very popular tourist attraction which did help with the expenses for its construction.

Once the old expenses were paid and Kurei noted a large sum in the sakura treasury everyone went into building compounds for the sakura clans, which was also as unexpected gifts. And the building process went quickly once Naruto taught everyone the Kage Bushin. But that also meant a few days of non-stop work and then a day or two of rest. But the compounds were finished three months ahead of time so it wasn't like anyone was going to tell them to do otherwise.

And now here was the village of Sakuragakura. Coming to its sixth year of its naming and it was already about half the size of Kohona.

Kurei smirked at the thought of what was her child hood retreat and its amazingly fast growth. _It was just suppose to be for the Jinchuuriki. But now its grown so big. _She thought amused. _Sarutobi would be pissed._

Kurei's thought of how Sarutobi would act if he could see what became of the supposed 'monsters' when there was a knock on her door.

"Enter!" she said forcefully. Hikari came into the office. She looked the same as always, but the bulge on her stomach was still a bit of a shocker to Kurei. She smiled as she recalled exactly what happened that day...

--Flashback--

_Kurei sat in her chair at her desk. To her sides were Kasai and Furai. In front of her Itachi and Hikari sat and boy did Hikari look sick._

"_So what's the problem?" Kurei asked concerned for Hikari._

"_Lady Kurei. For about a week now Hikari has been feeling very sick and I'm very worried." Itachi said in his usual calm voice._

"_Its just the stomach flu." Hikari insisted._

"_A stomach flu that lasts a month?" Itachi asked._

"_Hmm. Unfortunately I can't really do any testing to see what's wrong myself because of all this damn paper work." Kurei said motioning to her disaster of a desk. "But Kasai and Furai both know a bit about medical ninjutsu and I'm sure they can help you._"

"_Come with us Hikari and we'll see what's wrong." Furai said helping the woman to her feet. _

_Itachi got up and walked out of the office with the girls._

_The next day Kurei sat at her desk finishing off some paper work when there was a knock on her door._

"_Enter." Kurei said not even looking up from her paper work. Furai, Kasai, Itachi, and Hikari all entered the room._

"_We have all the results." Furai said with a blush on her cheeks. _

"_Well then. Tell them what's wrong." Kurei said still looking at her paper work._

"_Well. Kurei-sama. We think that you should see the results first." Kasai said trying to hold her composure. This got Kurei's attention enough to look up. However it was making Itachi and Hikari very anxious to know what was going on._

_Kurei held her hand out and Kasai handed her a folder. After leafing through it for a moment Kurei came to a stop on the last page._

"_Well? What's it say?" Itachi demanded looking at Furai and Kasai, who in turn looked away beet red._

"_Ita...Itachi." Kurei said through clenched teeth._

"_What? What does it..." Itachi didn't get to finish his question for at that moment Kurei began throwing kunai and shuriken at him._

"_You bastard!" Kurei shouted throwing more weapons at him_

"_Itachi!" Hikari said shocked before turning to Furai, "What's the meaning of this?"_

_Unable to say it herself Furai handed Hikari the paper Kurei had been reading. When Hikari had read it she fainted_

"_Hikari!" Itachi shouted running over to the girl. It was then that he saw what the deal was. The paper Hikari had read said only one thing._

_Pregnancy test: Positive_

--End Flashback--

"Lady Kurei. I have the reports on this years graduating students." Hikari said as she came forward and set a pile of papers in front of Kurei which brought her back to reality.

Unable to help herself Kurei let out a moan, "But I just finished." She whined. Hikari couldn't help but giggle at Kurei until she felt a sharp pain in her side. Cringing, she almost fell over if Kurei had appeared at her side and caught her.

"Are you ok, Hikari? Twenty is to young to be pregnant. " Kurei mumbled as she thought of how she could torment Itachi for Hikari's situation later.

"Fine." Hikari said with a smile, "One things for sure. This little one will be an excellent ninja like his father."

"You mean like their parents?" A female voice said from in the door way. Kasai leaned against the door frame with a tired look.

"Kasai. Good to see your back from scouting those near bye islands. Were a bunch of bandits really so much trouble that your so tired?" Kurei asked.

Kasai smirked, "No but pushing a five ton whale back into the ocean with Kaira and Kisame was."

Kurei felt a bead of sweet slid down her face, "Why do I have the feeling I just got a lot more work added to my plate?" She asked which made both Kasai and Hikari chuckle.

"Because the leader of the clan Unabara, Hikaru Umino is requesting to see you. But not today. She and her guards are tired from the travel over the sea." Kasai said quickly so Kurei couldn't get to depressed.

"Lovely." Kurei said with a sigh before looking over at her desk which was once again piled with papers, "Ok! Break time! Kasai. Hikari care to join me on my afternoon walk?"

The two girls smiled and excepted Kurei's offer.

"By the way. You are eating a healthy diet right Hikari?" Kurei asked as they walked out of her house, "As in other foods then ramen."

Hikari looked at her leader and chuckled, "Yes. Itchi is making sure of that."

"How cute. Is that your pet name for Itachi?" Kasai asked. Hikari blushed a little and nodded a yes.

Kurei could only try to hide her smirk behind her hand as they walked threw Sakuragakura. She made sure to pass by the academy were a bunch of genin-in-training stopped to marvel it the first Sakurakage and the first genin of Sakuragakura.

They all bowed respectively at them as they passed and the three woman stopped to answer the questions the young lings had until a member of the Chishio clan came over and shooed the children to their classes.

"Sorry about that Kurei-dono. Kasai-san. Hikari-san." he said as he continued to herd the children inside to their lessons. The three woman chuckled as they continued their walk. They passed by several growing businesses and said hello to the owners. By the time it was about time for Kurei to return to her work hers and her companies stomachs were grumbling for food.

"Hikari. If you were hungry you should have told us. You have two to feed now you know." Kasai said accusingly.

"Sorry. I didn't realize it until just now." Hikari said with a nervous smile.

"That's fine. I'm hungry too." Kurei said heading for a very familiar tea house, "Hoi! Shiro! Four orders of Miso Yaki! Beef if you please."

The people in the tea house went to stand to bow to kurei when she spoke again.

"No need to get up. Just enjoy your food and company." Kurei said which made many people smile as they seated themselves again.

"Four orders kurei-san? Who are we expecting?" Hikari asked. Kurei smiled and patted her head.

"Silly woman. Your pregnant that means you eat for two." She said.

Kurei and the girls sat themselves at a table in a corner and began to chat happily and eat until an out break broke their conversation.

"Shut up, bastard!" a man said rather loudly which was catching attention. The man was at least six foot and well muscled. He had long black hair that was in mats and an untrimmed beard. His cloths were dirty and we was grabbing on of the waiters by the collar of his shirt.

"Sir please let go." A waitress said nervous.

"Shut up! Now get me more sake!" the man said with a hic as he threw the poor waiter. Kasai appeared behind the waiter and caught him from a hard fall.

"You know." Kurei said from her table, "Just because I welcome people to join my village doesn't mean you get special privileges."

"Do you even know who I am old hag?" the man questioned as he turned to glare at Kurei. Kurei disappeared from her table and the man felt cold steal rest on his neck.

"I couldn't care less what your name is. As long your in my village you will follow my rules. And if this is how you treat people then you can pack your bags and leave. Or I'll just dispose of you now." she said darkly as she pressed the blade harder on the man's neck. The man looked back at her shocked before Kurei released him. He quickly paid his bill before leaving under Kurei's infuriated gaze.

Once the man was gone Kurei apologized to the customers and she, Hikari, and Kasai paid their bill before leaving.

"Well. If you'll excuse me Kurei-dono. I've been fed and now I think I'd like a nap." Kasai said as she bowed and headed towards the apartments that her house was at. Kurei nodded and to Kasai as she walked away and let out a sigh.

"I guess that means its time for me to go back to the office and finish off that paper work." Kurei said regretfully. Hikari chuckled.

"Itchi is away on a mission so I'm free for the afternoon. Maybe I can help you." She said. Kurei gave her a big hug as a thank you and the two woman went back to her house/office to finish the paper work and put together new sakura genin teams.

---

The next day Kurei met up with the Unabara clan leader. Shiro was there to represent the Youma clan and Shinku to represent the Chishio clan. The three sakura leaders all wore their usual outfits for they all had just come from whatever business they usually did.

Hikaru Umino had light blue hair that looked a lot like the sky when there was good weather. Her eyes were an enchanting aqua green and she had pale skin. She was the definition of a sickly person. Yet Kurei could see that the older woman was happy and didn't look miserable.

She wore a blue tank top and baggy tan pants. Kurei could tell she had just came from her a camp for she smelled of the ocean and smoke.

"So Hikaru-san. How can we the people of Sakuragakura help you?" Kurei asked pleasantly. "Well. To put it simply." Hikaru began after she sipped her tea, "I wish to ask permission for the Unabara Clan to reside here. In Sakuragakura territory."

Shiro and Shinku looked at the woman shocked while Kurei gave the woman a curious look.

"Why? It is known to all that the Unabara clan is a migrating clan. Never to stay in one place for to long." Kurei said.

Hikaru nodded her head, "Yes that is what is said of our clan. But you see, our clan has grown a lot in the past decade. We allow members to come and go if they please but it has been a while since such has happened and we find ourselves needing a fleet to move us all. And after discussing it with the entire clan we've come to like the waters around here."

"I see." Kurei said blankly already knowing where this was heading.

"Well, with your permission I wish to set residence on the nearby islands with my clan." Hikaru said bluntly.

Kurei sat back as she thought it over. _The addition of the Unabara clan can only help us economical. _She concluded. But there was still something bothering her.

"Hikaru-san. When was the last time you were on the battle front?" She questioned

Hikaru gave Kurei a questionable look before answering, "Not for some time. Why?"

"Have any of the members of your clan been to war?" Kurei asked.

"No. But we're not helpless."

"That's not the point." Kurei said looking at the woman, "The point is that those islands will one day we a war zone. As it is now, three of the five great nations want nothing more then to see Sakuragakura burn to the ground. The only thing that keeps them from doing so is that we have the Jinchuuriki all together and willing to kill for this place, the Youma and Chishio clans who are known world wide for their amazing abilities, and for the fact that we have Kohona's support. And one day they'll loss it enough to come and attack us. And those islands will play a very important roll. If I can't get assurance that my people will be safe then what else am I suppose to do?"

Hikaru was speechless. She looked at the other two clan heads and noticed that both of them chose not to look at her. She looked back at Kurei and saw a look of sadness cross her face.

"I wish I could offer you the islands as your home, but I fear the worst. If I let you settle there then there is the possibility that your clan may be destroyed. There is simply to much danger in having you there." she said sadly. Hikaru let out a small sigh and a smile came to her lips.

"You should stop worrying, Kurei. It'll give you wrinkles." Hikaru said teasingly, "do not worry about my clans well being. Just because we haven't seen war in a few years doesn't mean we have forgotten how to fight. The sea can be just as cruel as an army."

"But..." kurei went to say before Hikaru cut her off

"I told you to stop worrying. The Unabara clan is a clan of all water jutsu users. If we stay on those islands then no matter what angle the attack comes from we can hold them off. It can even be used as a evacuation site for the residents when the time for war does come." Hikaru said. Kurei looked at the woman shocked.

She hadn't heard anything about the Unabara clan being able to use jutsu. In fact, people said the opposite. That they were a group of ordinary people who traveled the seas. Kurei bit her lip.

"Then prove that I can trust your word. Please, prove to me that I can sleep tonight without the fear of waking up to the screams of my villagers. That no matter what, you can hold off an attack long enough for us to come to assistance." Kurei said behind her bangs.

Hikaru looked at the woman in front of her with sad eyes. _She cares so much for the people here. Its like she sees them as her own family. _The woman thought before a smile came to her face, _As it should be._

"I can protect your back." She said softly, "If anything, the Unabara clan never goes back on their word. Even if we have to fight them without jutsu we'll do it." Hikaru said proudly. Shinku and Shiro smiled as they watched the older woman say the words their leader needed to hear.

"Then I give you those islands to use how you see fit." Kurei said as a tired smile came to her face. She never again would need to watch the costs for she had a new ally that would do that for her.

"You are a good leader, Kurei. You care for those who seek your protection and treat them as if they were your kin." Hikaru said. Kurei looked at the woman curious before smiling.

"Sakuragakura was suppose to be a retreat for the Jinchuuriki." she said which got a shocked look from Hikaru, "A place were they could live without being judged by past events. And it still is. For their sakes, the sakes of those the world sees as monsters, I will do anything and everything to protect this place. Because they were only children, and children shouldn't have to see that ugly side of man at such a fragile age. But now they have grown as has Sakuragakura, so I will protect them just like I did the others."

_I like this woman. _Hikaru thought as she nodded in agreement.

After a few more minutes of discussion, Hikaru signed a treaty claiming that her clan would protect the seas around the islands it claimed and be ready for war is Sakuragakura called for assistance. And by the end of the hour Sakuragakura gained another ally in the world of enemies.

---

Later that day Kurei sat with Shiro, Shinku, and Hikaru as they went over small details. While Hikaru kept refusing the sakura representatives wanted to begin building a compound for her people.

"It would take ages, money, and lots of supplies. Things you need for the main land." Hikaru insisted. Shiro let out a deep laugh while Shinku and Kurei chuckled.

"Fear not Hikaru-san." Shinku said, "I know a particular group of people who will have it done in a few months."

Hikaru looked at them as if they were nuts which only made them laugh again. But their laughter was broken when a voice spoke up.

"Pardon me Kurei-san. Shinku-san. Shiro-san . But the shinobi have gathered and are awaiting to here why you called for them so suddenly." a quiet chishio girl said

"very well." Kurei said to the girl who bowed and left, "Shall we go then?"

"Go where?" Hikaru asked curious.

Kurei smiled as Shiro answered Hikaru's question, "To tell everyone of our new family members."

Hikaru looked at them like they were insane before they all stepped out onto Kurei's balcony where they could see all the residents of Sakuragakura waiting to hear the news. They all shouted and cheered when they saw their leaders.

Kurei raised a hand which settled the crowd.

"Residents and shinobi of Sakuragakura." Kurei began in an official voice, "I stand here now with wonderful news."

"Someone's killed Orichimaru?" Someone in the crowd called out. Kurei couldn't help but chuckle guessing it was a certain blonde that was being scowled by a fiery red head. Kurei also noticed how several other people in the crowd chuckled.

"Alas no. I come with different news. As of today the problem of an attack from the seas has been solved." Kurei paused as a stream of questions arose from the crowd. It wasn't until it was quiet again that she continued, "With our new found allies, the Unabara Clan, we can rest at peace with the knowledge that we are safe from attack. Their leader, Hikaru Umino, has sworn this. Now, will you welcome them?" Kurei asked.

Shiro stepped forward, "Youma clan! Do you welcome the Unabara clan?" he called out.

As if trained by a military the members of the Youma clan answered, "Yes."

Kurei smiled as Shiro stepped back and Shinku stepped forward.

"Chishio Clan! Do you welcome the Unabara clan?" She called out. And just as before the members of the chishio clan answered, "Yes."

"Two out of three." Kurei mumbled before stepping forward as Shinku stepped back.

"Citizens of Sakuragakura! Will you except the Unabara clan into our village?" Kurei asked. The entire crowd before her answered as one in a load voice, "Yes."

Smiling Kurei turned to Hikaru, "We the leaders except the Unabara clan as do our people. Hikaru Umino we present a flag with Sakuragakura's symbol on it. So all can see that you and your clan have been excepted as one of us and that if they dare to harm you. We will stand besides you." Kurei said as Shinku presented Hikaru with a flag folded into a triangle and the sakura petal visible on one side.

Hikaru excepted the flag and a huge cheer went threw Sakuragakura. The citizens all rushed towards local bars that were setting up.

"And now the party begins." Kurei said.

"I don't get it." Hikaru said in a mumble more to herself then anyone. Shinku chuckled.

"It's the welcome ceremony. The same thing happened when Tsunade and Kurei signed the peace treaty a few years back You see according to the growing tradition that Kurei-sama is setting up, no action can be made without the consult of Sakuragakura's people." Shinku explained, "The people of my clan entrusted me to represent them. So if I approve of something they feel that it is for the best."

Hikaru nodded her head, "I see. Kurei truly is a one in a million leader."

Shiro nodded his head in agreement, "She always has been. She's kind and sensitive. She understands peoples pain, grief, and happiness. She's the type of leader who will fight with you on the front line and not spend a moment thinking about her own well being over someone else."

"It'll get her killed one day." Hikaru said with a small smile and a chuckle. The other two nodded in agreement before Kurei came over to them.

"Come on! Time for you to meet the villagers Hikaru. That and to party." Kurei said with a huge grin. The three leaders smiled as they all went to party with the rest of the villagers.


	14. the new genin 1

hey, here's the new chapter.

**could all readers please go to shadowshearts page and read the chapter with the poll in it. it's very important for th story.**

* * *

The next morning Kurei sent over Naruto, Neji, and Kiba with Hikaru to help her build her clans compound and insure that everything went smoothly. She also spent the morning locked up in her office, doing paper work.

Hikari walked down the corridor that would take her to Kurei's office. She held a tray that had a cup of hot tea and two pills in one hand and a folder in the other. _I hope Kurei-dono wont feel to bad. _Hikari thought as she knocked on the door. But there was no answer, which worried Hikari.

"Kurei-sama? I knocked." Hikari said as she slowly opened the door to peer into the room. What she saw made her chuckle.

Kurei was asleep at her desk with a cup of cold herbal tea in her right hand and a report in her left. The lights had been turned off and the curtains had been closed shut so only a small ray of light was cast into the dark room. To the left of Kurei were completed forms that stacked up a couple feet. And to the right a small pile of unread and unfinished paperwork.

Hikari let out a sigh as she set the tray down on the organized desk and went to get the cup of tea out of Kurei's hand before she spilled it on all the work she had already done. Thinking it was better to let Kurei sleep off her hangover Hikari began delivering the finished paper work to whom ever it addressed and left the reports in a small pile on the table in front of Kurei's desk.

She was almost done when she heard Kurei move from her desk. Kurei looked around her in a sort of daze. She stopped looking when she saw Hikari and sat up.

"What happened?" she asked feeling her head pound lightly.

"Sorry to wake you Kurei-sama." Hikari said, "When I came in you were asleep and I figured it be best to just let you sleep."

Kurei chuckled as she rubbed her eyes, "Thank you Hikari. By the way. What happened to all the paper work I did?" Kurei asked eying the spot where the work had been.

"I already delivered them out. I was setting the reports over here so they wouldn't get knocked over while you slept." Hikari said walking over to Kurei with the stack of paper.

"Really?" Kurei asked a bit shocked, "I was going to deliver them myself. Now I have nothing to do for the afternoon." Kurei said with a smile as she stretched in her chair ready to relax.

"I wish that were so Kurei-sama. But unfortunately I have brought you more work." Hikari said as she handed the older woman the file she had been told to deliver almost an hour ago.

"What's this?" Kurei asked eying the folder curiously.

"This years graduates from our academy." Hikari said, "there quite the energetic bunch."

"Really?" Kurei said interested as she opened the folder, "Hmm. Your right. A very energetic group. But why so few?" Kurei asked.

"Shiro-san thought it be best to raise the standards from the other villages." Hikari explained, "So we can hold onto as many shinobi as we can."

Kurei nodded understanding before she leaned back, "Now what test should I give them?" She questioned. When Hikari gave her a questioning look Kurei explained.

"In the leaf your not a genin until you pass a little test. It was our way of weeding out those who cheated and actually know nothing and those who were shinobi material." Kurei explained.

"But, Kurei-san. There all from the clans or their children of the villagers. I'm sure they all knew their stuff." Hikari said as a bead of sweat slid down her face.

"True. But it'll be fun nonetheless." Kurei said with an evil smirk before continuing to think, "I know what I'll do this year." Kurei said when an idea came to her, "Hikari get me Rei, Furai, Kasai, and Shiro. I need a word with them."

"Hai!" Hikari said as she went to get the people Kurei called for. Kurei got up from her desk and went into her bedroom where she pulled out six silver bells and three gold ones. _This will be to fun. _She thought.

Before long Hikari returned with Rei, Furai, Kasai, and Shiro.

"Good. Your all here." Kurei said before holding up the bells, "I have a mission for you." She said smirking when the three ninja looked at each other.

---

Nine children of about ten all sat in the same room. All of them in their own little groups. In one corner two Youma boys and a Youma girl. They all had the traditional white hair and wore dark clothes. Their eye color varied but they all were a light shade. One boy had pale blue eyes while the other had pale green eyes. And the girl had light brown eyes.

In another corner were two Chishio children. One female one male. The girl had dark red hair that had a dark glow to it and crimson red eyes. The boy had black hair that had a reddish glow to it and deep red eyes. They both wore a red shirt and black pants that stopped just above their black shinobi shoes.

And sitting in the chairs in the front of the room was a group of four children who didn't belong to any of the sakura clans. Their were twin boys, who had light brown hair and blue eyes. They wore tan t-shirts with blue shorts and blue shinobi shoes.

Next to them was a girl who had blonde hair and serious blue eyes. She wore a black turtle neck with long sleeves, a dark grey skirt that went to her knees and was slit on the sides, she had grey shorts under the skirt, and blue shinobi shoes. She sat cross-legged and was reading from a book.

The last was a boy who sat at a slouch in his chair. His arms were folded in front of him and he appeared to be sleeping. He had long black hair that was tied up and his bangs were fire red. He wore a tan tank with bandaging that wrapped around his right bicep and his left forearm. He had on dark blue pants that went to his mid-shin, bandaging, and then black shinobi shoes.

The Chishio girl let out a tired sigh, "I wonder how we'll be paired up with. Or for that matter who our senseis are." She said breaking the silence.

"No one spectacular that for sure." the boy with red hair said not even opening his eyes, "It'll probably be someone from one of the clans. Nameless shinobi."

"Hey. Don't underestimate the power of the Youma clan." the Youma boy with pale blue eyes said.

"Or the Chishio." the other Youma boy said looking over at the two in the opposite corner, "both clans are powerful."

"But not as powerful as one of the Shinigami." one of the twin boys said with a depressed look.

"It be so cool if we were though." the other twin said imagining working with one of the famous nine Shinigami.

It was then that they all caught the sound of foot steps on wood and got ready to welcome their senseis. They were all very shocked to see Kurei enter the room. Even the boy who had looked asleep look at the Sakurakage shocked with his dark brown eyes.

The newly promoted genin scrambled to get up and bow, "good morning Sakurakage-sama." they said in unison as they bowed.

"Good morning." Kurei said pleasantly opening one of the three folders she had in her hand, "now, I'm sure your all curious to hear who you'll be teamed with and who your sensei is right?"

The nine genin nodded as they continued to stand.

"Very well then. Youma Awai." the youma girl nodded, "Chishio Kuro." the male Chishio nodded, "and Outaimaru Ookami." One of the twin boys nodded, "You all are Team 1. Please line up over here."

The genin quickly did as Kurei said and lined up just in front of her. Kurei closed the folder she had and opened another one.

"Next is Youma Kyoukou." the youma boy with pale green eyes nodded, "Chishio Akai." the Chishio girl nodded, "and Soro Ookami." the other twin nodded, "you three are Team 2. Please come and line up."

The other three quickly came and lined up as Kurei instructed. Kurei closed the folder she had been looking at and opened the last one she had.

"Which leaves Youma Aoiro," the blue eyed youma boy nodded, "Kitai Akaaka." the blonde girl nodded, "and Doragon Kaji." the boy with black hair nodded, "and you three are Team 3. Please come line up."

The last three quickly got into place and the nine shinobi waited for Kurei to tell them who their senseis were.

"Alright. Team 1. You will meet your sensei on the eastern beach. Team 2, your sensei is waiting on the western beach. Team 3, yours on the northern beach." Kurei said before smiling, "But first I'm going to test you. Your mission is to get to your sensei in the next three minutes and hand them this envelop." She said handing a envelop to each of the Youma children in the group.

"Three minutes?" Akaaka asked shocked. It was at least a ten minute walk to the beach. Awai, Kyoukou, and Aoiro smirked. It wouldn't be to hard to get there quickly.

"That's right. If you can get there as a team you'll pass my test. Better get going. this test starts now." she said walking out of the room.

"Lets go." Akai said, "we can just use our kekei genkai and get all of us their quickly."

The others nodded and put their hands on the shoulders of one of the Youma children. Awai, Kyoukou, and Aoiro pumped chakra into their bodies. Yet they did not sink.

"What the?" Aoiro asked shocked.

"It must be whatever is in the envelope. Its blocked your kekei genkai." Akaaka said, "we need to start running or else we wont make it." she said opening the window.

"Hold on! What if we just hand the envelop to someone else on our team?" Kyoukou asked.

"This test was deigned by Kurei-sama, Shiro-sama, and Shinku-sama. I think they've already thought of that. Now lets go!" Akaaka said jumping out the window and onto Sakuragakura's roof tops. Not wanting to waist anymore time the others followed and the youma three brought up the rear.

The three teams broke off and headed towards where they were told would be their sensei in a race against the clock.

Kurei and Shiro walked into the room the genin had just been in. Kurei let out a small chuckle.

"That was genius Shiro. I didn't know you knew a seal that blocked your own kekei genkai." Kurei said.

"It was nothing. But it seems that Kitai Akaaka is a smart one." Shiro said as he undid the seal that had been hidden on the floor from the genin.

"She is. An IQ of 220." Kurei said which got a whistle from Shiro. They both looked out towards the beaches.

---

The first team made it to their respected meeting place out of breath. They leaned on their knees and tried to get back their breath.

"Congratulations." a male voice said. The three genin looked up at the person that had spoke and their eyes widened in shock, "Looks like you pass Kurei-sama's test. Now lets see if you can pass mine."

Team 2 looked at their sensei in complete shock as she sat on a rock by the ocean. Team 3 was doing the same to the woman who appeared from behind a tree. The three adults smirked once more as the nine genin looked at them shocked.

"Youma Rei." Awai muttered.

"Washi Furai." Akai muttered.

"Kaki Kasai." Akaaka muttered.

The three sakura jonin's smirk grew.

"Yo." They all said to their teams.

* * *

thanks for reading please review. 


	15. the new genin 2

Hey ya all here is the new chapter.

also i want to write a new story but i need someone to help me with it so if your interested please go to our page and look at it. it's an Akartsuki comes to the real world story and it seamed fun to me. bye, Marine.

* * *

Kasai looked over at her team from the forest edge and leaned on the trees trunk. 

"So this is the team Karei-sama thought best for me, eh?" She said aloud, "Lets see. It appears that I got a stuck up genius" She said taking in Akaaka's appearance, "A hot-headed fire breather." She said looking Kaji over, "And a closest perv. Wonderful." She said with sarcasm.

Akaaka gave Kasai a venomous glare. Kaji glared at her with a hint of killer intent behind the sure rage. And Aoiro was red in the face.

"What did you just call us?" Kaji demanded hot-headedly.

"Exactly what you are. Well, maybe not the Youma boy. But most Youma men do you their 'gifts' for such reasons." Kasai said just talking. Aoiro's look of rage intensified and he would have charged at Kasai if Akaaka hadn't appeared behind him and grabbed him by his arm. She pulsed her chakra threw his body which canceled out his own chakra circulation.

"Kasai-san." Akaaka said ignoring the glare she was getting from her teammates, "Karei-dono asked us to give you a package."

"Oh? Really? Well, hand it over." She said holding out her hand. Akaaka leaned in closer to Aoiro.

"Give her the package and don't do anything stupid." She hissed. Aoiro breathed in a shaky breath before walking over to Kasai and putting the package in her hand. Kasai grinned at the boy and opened up the package before breaking out in a fit of laughter.

"Thats Karei-dono." She laughed before putting the paper into her pocket, "Now to business. All three of you have studied hard. Gone threw many hardships. But unfortunately only one of you will become a sakuragakura ninja." She said with an evil grin.

All three genin looked at her with utter looks of horror and shock.

"What?" Kaji demanded, "Then what the hell was all this work we did in the academy for?"

"Sakuragakura can't afford to be picky." Akaaka said, "There are too few of it shinobi. Without a large arm to support it population, Sakuragakura will be over run and taken over by one of the other nations. So why only allow three academy graduates to pass every year?"

Kasai's evil grin passed and a serious look came to her face, "Our numbers are indeed small but they are steadily growing. Do you know why?"

The three genin shook their heads no.

"Its because we only take a few of you academy graduates and let you be sakuragakura genin. By being picky, as you call it Akaaka, we only have the strong in our forces which mean that we last longer on the battle field then someone we just let in because they could make a clone or throw a kunai. Our systems are set this way so the strong are on the battle front while the weaker stay out of the way until they are strong enough to join their comrades." Kasai explained.

"Social Darwinism in short." Akaaka said gritting her teeth.

"Exactly." Kasai said getting her smile back, "Now shall we proceed to the test?"

The genin swallowed loudly and shook their heads.

"Very well. The test is simple." She said before hold up three balls in her right hand, "Your mission is to find one of these balls in the forest. I will be there to stop you and will even give you a ten minute head start before coming after you. If you do not by the end of the timed period you will fail and no matter how hard you try we will not take you back in the academy to join Sakuragakura's ranks. I'm not done." She said when she noticed Kaji was about to protest, "If you do get one and manage to hold onto it until the end of the timed period you will be allowed to try again for genin in six months." She said before opening on of the balls to reveal a silver bell, "Inside the balls is a bell. Two balls have a silver bell and one has a gold bell. However gets the gold bell will be the one to receive their head band and will be under my teaching. You will have exactly two hours to find one of the balls and hold onto it before this alarm goes off" She finished closing up the ball and bringing out an alarm that she set down on a near by rock.

"Thats preposterous!" Akaaka shouted, "Finding that small of an object over this huge terrain while fighting off a jonin? Thats impossible for us!"

"And the fact that we only have two hours is unreasonable. Give us more time to complete to mission." Kaji demanded. Kasai raised a curious eyebrow before disappearing from where she was. Kaji went to look around for her when he felt cold steel rest on his neck then something warm rest of his back.

"I could just end your test right now." She whispered softly, "This is the test everyone has had to go threw. Your no different. Now if you want to keep your life shut up." She said darkly.

Kaji swallowed loudly and was shocked when the kunai and Kasai's presence on his back disappeared and she reappeared in front of him.

"Now." she said, "Anyone else want to object?" When no of them spoke up Kasai smirked, "Then lets begin." She said throwing up the balls. Three small dragons quickly zoomed by, each taking one of the balls and racing into the sky.

"They'll drop the balls at some point so don't worry." Kasai said smirking at the shocked Genin, "I'd get going. Or else you'll never know where to start." She said. Akaaka was the first to recover and took off after one of the dragons. Aoiro and Kaji recovered soon after her and quickly went to do the same. Kasai smirked at the three genin as they disappeared in the forest.

She was about to sit down when she felt someone grab her around the waist from behind.

"We both know they'll never complete a mission of this level. No one has yet." Naruto said resting his head on Kasai's shoulder. Kasai held onto Naruto's arm while bringing her other hand up to pet his face.

"True. By the way, what are you doing here? Aren't you suppose to be supervising the building of the Unabara clan compound?" She asked looking back into Naruto's deep blue eyes.

"I'm on a lunch break." He said with a smirk before kissing her neck. Kasai smiled and turned around in his embrace.

"Well you better get back to work. Your distracting me from mine." She said. When naruto gave her a disappointed look, she kissed him lightly on the lips and he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kasai let out a small chuckle before turning back to the forest.

---

Rei watched his team go to chase after his chameleons as they easily disappeared with the balls. _This will be entertaining to say the least. _He thought before looking down at his watch. They had another three minutes, then the real test would begin.

---

Furai finished the cheese and crackers she had brought for the wait and stood up.

"Its time." She mumbled before facing the beach her team had disappeared in. She closed her eyes and opened them. Everything slowed down and when Furai focused she could see her team. They were all digging around in the sand, searching about one hundred and fifty meters away. She chuckled to herself before drawing her bow and making an arrow. Taking careful aim she shot at the youma boy.

---

Akaaka came to a stop when she sensed someone's charka fall. _Shit. They meant it when they said they'd be there to stop us. _She thought hiding in a bush. _No choice but to take extreme cautious measures. _She thought making several hand signs.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu." she said softly as five more of her appeared. They all jumped off while one stayed in the bush.

–Almost two hours later–

Furai set down an unconscious and tied up Akai next to an also unconscious and tied up Soro. She looked down at her watch for the time. _Ten more minutes. _She thought. _Ten minutes until its over. _

With that thought in mind she focused and searched for her last student while a clone stood near by, guarding her captives.

---

Akaaka raised her head as information can to her from her last clone. _So she's got Aoiro now as well. _She thought. _I expected as much from kaji but I didn't expect her to be able to catch Aoiro. And she made it look so easy. _She thought. Two hours of hiding in a bush and making shadow clones had completely drained her of her chakra. She gritted her teeth and made the same hand signs as before. She summoned the last of her chakra.

"Kage bushin no jutsu." She said hoarsely as the clone appeared. It went to jump out of the bush but while it was in the air a senbon hit it in the neck causing it to disappear.

"So this is where you've been hiding." Akaaka heard Kasai's voice say. Akaaka curse her luck as she heard the jonin come closer but she was so deprived of chakra that she began to blackout. The last thing she saw was Kasai's shoes before she went unconscious.

Kasai looked down at the girl with a sad smile, "You pushed yourself to hard kid. You could never out smart me." She said recalling how during this entire trial she had to have a clone watch her captives. _She's defiantly sakuragakura shinobi material._

"The other reason the shinobi of sakuragakura have such a long life expectancy. We looked after our comrades." Kasai mumbled before picking up the girl. Her clones smirked and picked up her other students and they all headed towards the hospital where she met Rei and Furai who had just dropped off their students.

"So how are yours?" Kasai asked Furai.

"Skilled. Especially with their blood limits. Those Ookami boys really are something. They fight a lot like Kiba." Furai said with a smile, "What about your Rei?"

"I believe they're skilled enough to make it." He said with a small smile, "And yours Kasai?"

"Well. They were overconfident and that would have killed them in normal situations but I think I can break them of that. Other than that, they're a pretty good bunch." She said with a smirk.

"So I take it that means they all passed?" Asked Karei as she walked over to the three Jonin.

Kasai smiled at her teacher, "I believe so." She said.

"Well then. You had better tell them when and where your cells meeting will be." Karei said which made Furai chuckle.

"We took care of that." She said looking into the room where all nine genin slept. By their beds was a small bunch of flowers, a note, and a sakuragakura head band.

Karei let out a chuckle, "So how about we go out to lunch now?" She asked before holding out her hand, "Your invitations?" She asked with an evil grin.

The jonins smiled as they pulled out the paper they had received earlier that day and handed them to her.

"Lets go." Kasai said as the adults left the hospital.

Later that day Karei sat back in her chair enjoying the rays of light that hit her back. It wasn't everyday that she finished enough of her work that she could sit back and relax. She let out a sigh of content and took a sip of the sake that sat next to her. She was about to pull out her favorite book when there was a knock at her door.

"Enter." she said in her demanding voice. Naruto, Kiba, and Neji all walked into the office with tired looks, "hm? What are you guys doing back so soon?" Kurei asked.

"We're here to give the report and rest a bit." Neji said, "Like you suggested."

Karei felt a bead of sweat slid down her face as she recalled telling them that.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry it slipped my mind. Well? Report!" she said recovering from her moment of forgetfulness. Kiba and naruto felt a bead of sweat slid down their own faces as Karei went from playful to serious in almost 0.5 seconds.

"Well." Neji began, "the construction is doing fairly well. The Unabara clan is large and everyone seems willing to help. I estimate it'll be..."

Neji was cut off as a Chishio clan member wearing the sakuragakura head band charged into the room.

"Karei-sama! There is a large group of unknown ninja heading this way. And from what the reports say, they're strong!" The male reported. Karei felt her face go from shock to angry.

"Have all shinobi report to the gates. They are not allowed to cross over until I get there. Go now!" Kurei ordered.

The Chishio ninja quickly left and within moments the sound of the alarm echoed threw Sakuragakura. The civilians began to quickly race to the beaches where members of the Unabara clan were already assisting them with crossing to the islands.

"Neji! Kiba! Naruto! Come with me!" Kurei ordered already half out the window. The three Jinchuuriki nodded and quickly followed Kurei out the window and raced to the gates.

By the time they got there a majority of Sakuragakura's shinobi were there and the civilians had cleared out of that area. Some were being looked over by paramedics while others waited patiently for Karei's order.

"Karei-sama!" Karei heard a familiar voice call.

"Hikari?" Karei asked as the pregnant woman appeared besides her. Not far behind her the other Jinchuuriki followed suit.

"What's going on Karei-sama?" Hikari asked, "Why is the invasion alarm going off?"

"Our scouts have reported a large group of powerful shinobi heading towards our front gates." Karei said. The Jinchuuriki all grabbed their weapons.

"It looks like its time to kick ass then, eh Ryo?" Yami asked his companion. The tiger growled at the gate as if daring who ever was coming to do their worst.

"Hikari. You should stay out of this." Naruto said, "Itachi would kill us if something happened to you."

"Leave my well being to me." Hikari spat back. Karei smirked but the smirk quickly passed when a sakura ninja let out a cry as he appeared in flight through the portal.

"Prepare to attack!" Karei shouted. _Damn it. And just ten minutes ago I was enjoying some sake in the sun light after a wonderful lunch with Rei, Furai, and Kasai. _She thought.

The Jinchuuriki drew their weapons and soon the shinobi behind them did as well. Kurei prepared to use her special jutsu and all was quiet as the sakura ninja waited. Then suddenly multiple figure began to appear in the portal.

Karei waited as several kunai and shuriken went flying by at the figures. Karei was about to give the sound to attack when she felt a very familiar chakra pattern. Another huge spray of weapons came forth and knocked all the kunai the sakura ninja had thrown.

"Is this really how you welcome people?" A female voice said. The sakura shinobi all wore looks of surprise but it was the Jinchuuriki and Kurei who were the most shocked.

Before them stood Tsunade, Hana, Anko, Rock lee, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, Asuna, Kurenai, Kakashi, Gai, and Iruka.

"Eh?...Obaa-chan?" Naruto said shocked. Tsunade glared at the blonde as her temple throbbed.

"Yes its us. Sakuragakura's closest allies. Yet when we come to see you we get attacked by your shinobi. How do you explain this?" Tsunade asked in general.

Kurei smiled and stood up properly, "It's alright everyone. It seems this was a false alarm." she said. The sakura ninja all traded looks before putting down their weapons.

"But tell me this Tsunade." Kurei began, "Why are you here?"

"Can't an old teacher visit her student? Besides if you don't want these supplies then we'll just take them back." Tsunade said wickedly. Hikari and Kaira chuckled.

"Everyone! Tell the residents its ok to come back now. And that we have guests." Kaira said. The shinobi all straightened until they looked like sticks poking out of the ground.

"Hai! Kaira-sama!" a majority said before they all went to do as ordered. The nine Jinchuuriki looked over at the leaf ninja.

"Its been a while." Kaira said glaring at Ino.

"Indeed it has." The blonde shot back. Soon the two girls were shooting insults back and forth at each other. Soon Garra had to hold Kaira back while Lee held back Ino.

Kasai looked over at Shino, "Let me guess. Fire proof?" She asked wickedly.

"I learned my lesson back then." He said hiding behind his glasses.

Kiba smirked at Shikamaru, "Hay there chicken boy."

Shikamaru smirked as he extended his hand which kiba shook.

"Such a pain. As always." Shikamaru mumbled making kiba's smirk grow.

Hinata and Neji shook hands.

"Its good to see you again cousin." Neji said.

"It is. And this time I wont go down so easily." Hinata said with a small smirk. Neji's grin grew.

Dana watched choji stuff food in his face, "You haven't changed." She said.

"Neither have you. Still got those mouths on your palms?" He asked munching on a strip of jerky. Dana felt her temple throb at the question.

Rei walked over to Tenten with a smile, "You aim is as sharp as even. My only question is how can you lug around that thing?" He asked motioning to the giant scroll that now lay on the ground.

Tenten smiled at him, "I ask myself that question sometimes."

Sakura watched Hikari intently and Hikari watched her back before tilting her head to a side.

"You've gotten stronger." She said before smiling, "good."

"What was the purpose of using that genjutsu on me? From the chunin exams all those years ago." Sakura asked. Hikari's smile faded.

"To teach you that the world isn't like you would think." She sad seriously before smiling again, "And besides, if I had you figured out like I thought I did. You would have never forgotten what I said and pushed yourself to get stronger. And looky here. It worked."

Sakura didn't seem shocked by what Hikari said and continued to watch her as Anko came up and greeted the girl. _So in the end. _She thought analyzing what Hikari had said. _In the end. She was trying to help me by waking me to the real world_. She thought before a small smile came to her lips. _Damn. Now I owe her a debt. _Sakura thought turning to walk towards Tsunade, Iruka, and Karei. "So, little one. It seems like Itachi finally got into your pants." Anko said with an evil smirk, noting Hikari's swelled stomach. Hikari let out a chuckle.

"And I'm paying for it now." She said getting a laugh from Anko.

Karei let out an amused chuckle as she walked over to Tsunade and Iruka to shake the Hokage's hand.

"You know. If you were perhaps an hour earlier you could have seen the sakuragakura version of our graduation testing. It was quite amusing." Kurei teased before noticing Sakura, "Why is this Sakura? My have you grown. And it seems you've grown into a womanly figure to boot!"

Sakura chuckled and bowed to Karei, "Its been a while Karei-san." She said politely with a smile.

Tsunade chuckled, "She's quiet the fast learner. I can now see why you thought she would surpass us one day." Tsunade teased but that bit of information was news to Sakura as shown by the shocked look she gave Karei. Karei chuckled when she heard a familiar voice.

"Iruka?" Hikaru said appearing out of the crowd. At the call of his name Iruka slowly turned to see who had spoken and his eyes widened when they rested on Hikaru's face.

"I'm sorry but who is this Karei?" Tsunade asked.

"My apologies. This is Hikaru Unabara. The leader..."

"The leader of the Unabara clan." Iruka said cutting Karei off, "And my mother."

A soft smile came to Hikaru's face, "So you still recognize me?" She asked happily. Iruka bit back tears as he quickly went to his mother and hugged her.

"How could I forget?" He mumbled. Tsunade looked at the two shocked while Karei smiled understandingly. Hikaru stroked Iruka's hair as both shinobi began to sob. They began to ask each other questions but Tsunade couldn't hear any of them as the rumblings sound of a huge crowd came closer.

"Come on." Karei said, "We will have to explain all this to the citizens."

"And then throw a party." Sakura said more to herself then anyone. The two kages looked at her shocked before breaking out laughing.

"She's defiantly our student." They laughed when Sakura gave them confused looks. When she understood Sakura smiled and follow her teachers into a night of partying.

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please review. 


	16. birth, death and a big suprice

hey, here's the new chapter. also there is a vote on the end of this chapter and i'd like it if you would vote. bye, Marine.

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Karei entered the hospital running at full speed. She ignored the shocked cries coming from the nurses and awaiting patients at the front desk as she quickly tore past them all.

_Damn it. _She thought as she ran into a stair well and began her assent._ This damn desk job as kage is cutting me back physically. I need to get out more often and regain this lost endurance. _She thought as her breaths came in uneven gasps.

Karei flung open the door to the floor she needed and quickly jumped into the hallway but she didn't notice a nurse who pushed a cart in front of her. Both woman gave a shocked gasp before Karei's instinct took over and she sent chakra to her legs to quickly jump over both woman and cart.

The sakurakage landed with a heavy grunt before she began running again, not sparing a word for the shocked woman she was leaving behind.

_Damn it all! _Karei thought as she ran faster down the halls. _I shouldn't have sent Itachi. I should have sent Shiro or someone else._

_But he was away... _her reasonable half reminded her bringing her back to that day almost six months ago.

--

_Karei was very aware of the grim expression on her face and she herself had a right to wear such and expression. Before her stood Itachi and Minato, both of whom she had just given an incredibly important mission. Both of whom where watching her with cold faces even though Karei could see the sorrow in the males eyes._

"_Do you both under stand?" She asked with a low but commanding voice._

"_Yes sakurakage." Minato said bowing slightly. Karei nodded to him grateful for his enthusiasm before turning to Itachi._

"_Karei-sama." he said respectfully, "The possibility of me missing my children's birth while away..."_

"_I know Itachi." She said interrupting him with a sympathetic voice, "But as you've most likely already figured out, you two are the best for this mission. You are familiar with the area, crafty, and can easily and quickly hide your tracks."_

_Itachi's eyes narrowed as pain and sorrow filled his fading eyes. Karei knew his eyesight was fading fast and knew it was his only wish to see his children's faces at least once before losing his ability to see the light._

"_What about Tobi? He also has the sharingan and can move more efficiently then me in this sort of situation." He pointed out, hoping slightly. Karei sighed despite of herself and looked up at Itachi._

"_I know this as well Itachi. However, Tobi is very similar to Naruto. Both of whom would get bored after so long and do something reckless to expose sakuragakura. If this mission isn't pulled off carefully, it may plunge the nations in another great war." She said hoping Itachi would understand the seriousness of this mission._

_The Uchiha stood where he was as if frozen in time and Karei began to question if he would refuse before he spoke again._

"_Very well. I will go." He said begrudgingly. Karei felt a wave of relief flood threw her and nodded her thanks to the man._

"_You leave at sunset tomorrow then. Prepare yourselves for a very long mission. And may Kami give you swift progress." She said feeling suddenly exhausted. Both sakura Anbu bowed before disappearing._

_With them gone Karei sat back in her chair and mentally went through a list of available shinobi, only to have her hopes crushed again as she came to the same conclusion._

_For the sake of the village, Itachi would have to miss his children's birth_. _It was a decision she wished she would never again have to place upon another shinobi._

--

Screams of pain brought Karei back to the present. While she had been carelessly day dreaming her feet had taken control and brought her to where she needed to be.

Karei skidded to a halt and used the door frame as a lever to keep her from skidding past the room she was need in.

Inside the room was a volunteer nurse, a whimpering Chi, a struggling Sakura, and a laboring Hikari.

"How is she?" Karei gasped as she quickly crossed the sink to wash her hands and put on gloves.

"Some things wrong." Sakura muttered, a hint of fear edging on her voice. "Its still to early for her and she's bleeding to much."

Karei nodded as she saw a powerful ripple go down Hikari's body. _We need to stop the bleeding or I'm going to loss her! _Karei suddenly realized. The jolt of shock and fear raced down Karei but she remained calm and turned to the volunteer nurse.

"You! Go quickly and get some pain killers." She ordered. The young woman gave her a terrorphied looked before running off to do as she was told.

"Sakura. Try and calm her." Karei said focusing chakra to her hands as she attempted to stop the bleeding. Chi gave another whimper and she rested her head on her paws at the edge of the room.

Sakura's hands began to glow green with chakra as she entered Hikari's mind to calm her. Karei put all of her focus into stopping Hikari's bleeding until she heard a scream. Looking down she saw a child was almost free. Hikari gave another push and the child slid out.

Moving quickly, Karei clipped the umbilical cord and tied it as the child screamed.

The woman returned with the medications Karei had called for and quickly gave them to Hikari. Karei quickly handed the child over to the woman and told her to clean her up while she and Sakura continued. The woman made no complaints and Karei brought her attention back to her job but was stopped by two powerful chakra's.

_Damn it. Who's chakra is this anyway? _Karei thought as panic began to taint her thoughts.

Karei quickly turned the volunteer again, "Tell someone to get me Tsunade. Now!" She shouted. The woman winced at Karie's suddenly harsh words and set the calmed child down in a waiting bed to run off to do as the sakurakage ordered.

Karei looked back down to see a small head beginning to emerge, but with the child came lots of blood and karei scrambled to stop it.

"I-Itachi." Karei heard Hikari mutter softly.

"Be quiet Hikari. Your doing fine. Just relax." Sakura assured her. No doubt she could fell it as well. Hikari was fading. Fast.

Hikari gave another push and the second child came out. Karei caught the little one and proceded to cut its umblical cord and tie it. She quickly set the baby girl down by her sister and returned to Hikari. There was a moment of silence before Hikari spoke again.

"I'm... I'm sorry Itachi." She said softly.

"Be quiet Hikari." Karei muttered trying to stop the bleeding now that the children were out of danger.

"I'm sorry...Yami."

"I said be quiet!"

"I'm sorry...everyone."

Karei slammed her bloody fist down on the table. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she felt the last bit of Hikari's chakra fade.

"Damn it." Karei muttered softly. Sakura clasped her mouth as tears began to descend down her face. It was then that Tsunade made it, but she was met with by the sound of babies crying and sobs.

A sad and soft look came to Tsunade's eyes before she went to Karei and rested her arm around her daughters shoulders.

"Sakura get the children. Come on Karei. There are little ones to look after now." She mutter quietly slowly bringing Karei away. She knew that Karei had grown close to Hikari in the time that she had acted as her secretary. Sakura did as Tsunade had ordered as Tsunade gently lead Karei away but the woman stopped at the door where Hikari's brother had just arrived."How... how is she?" He rasped. Tsunade was about to answer but Karei beet her to it being more blunt the Tsunade thought proper.

"Nekoyomi Hikari. Dead at six fifty-eight. April ninth. Cause of death. Bleed out while giving birth." Karei muttered. She went to walk past the shocked Yami and Ryo when she stopped.

Tsunade and Karei both quickly spun around to be blinded by a light that came off of Hikari.

--Hikari's mind scape--

Hikari was floating on her back in water in a sort of daze. The sound of dripping water and tumbling stone echoed threw the many corridors around her that were beginning to collapse.

"Hikari!" A booming voice called. Hikari came out of her daze and moved in time to dodge a falling piece of rock.

"What the..." She muttered

"Hikari!" Hachibi called again inpatient. Hikari spun around to see the demon behind its cage, "Quickly! Remove the seal!" The demon shouted.

"Why?" Hikari asked after a few precious minutes passed.

"You idiot! Do it now! Or do you really want to die and leave your children alone?" Hachibi demanded. A wave of shock ran threw Hikari as she thought about her newly born children. How would Itachi react when he found out? How would Yami? Or her father? Or Chi? How would the village act?

"They'll be devastated without you! And Your children need you!" Hachibi called sensing death getting uncomfortable close to taking both her and Hikari. Hikari stood there still for what seemed like an eternity before turning to face Hachibi.

"If this is a trick I will find away to get control and send us both to hell." She muttered darkly.

"Its not a trick stupid girl now remove the seal!"

Hikari nodded and rushed over to the cage. The seal was unreasonably high and Hikari couldn't feel any of her chakra. _Thats just great!_ She thought before a massive talon appeared next to her. Not even questioning Hikari jumped on so Hachibi could lift her to the seal.

Once at the appropriate high Hikari took hold of the tag as the god of death materialize and grabbed the back of Hikari's shirt.

"Shit." Hikari said. The god gave a slight tug but it was enough to pull Hikari away.

--With Karei--

Karei threw her arms up to stop the light from blinding her more. It was several moments before the light faded and Karei thought that even the sand might had just discovered what general direction Sakuragakura was if not where exactly.

Karei slowly lowered her arm and blinked until she could see. I was then she heard the sound of tumbling rock and looked to her right to find Sakura pulling herself out of a pile of rubble.

"What the devil?" Tsunade asked going to help her apprentice.

"Sorry. Chakra blast threw me through the wall." Sakura said before letting out a load cough.

"Sorry about that. I guess merging is rather big." Said a more demanding voice. The three woman and Yami looked into Hikari's room to see a woman walking toward them with both children in her arms.The small bundles rested up against the woman's chest and were silent.

The woman looked just like Hikari but she appeared to have elven ears, had stripes on both her cheeks, and a black sun in the middle of her forehead. Around the sun were what would be described as sun rays and the one on the very bottom was long enough that it went down the bridge of Hikari's nose. Behind her were eight blood red cheetah tails.

"Hey, karei. Mind taking these two? I'm actually really tired." Hikari muttered as her exhaustion shone in her eyes. Karei was lost for words so she simply nodded and came forward to take the babies.

"Akari and Artemis." Hikari said passing the girl with red hair and black eyes to Karei first before passing the second child.

The sakurakage also noted that both children had markings similar to their mother. Akari had a red panther tail, two black stripes on her face, and a star in the middle of her forehead. While the other one had a black cheetah tail with red spots, identical stripes on one side of her face as her mother and sister, cheetah markings under her eye like her mother before this little incident, and a black sun on her forehead.

The children were obviously demonic which explained the powerful chakra that had been blocking Karei earlier.

It took Karei a moment to understand that these were the children would live in a situation similar to their mother and hoped they could find peace in sakuragakura. For a moment she was doubtful but then she remembered the treatment the residents gave the Jinchuuriki as was. Surely they would treat these children the same.

_If they don't then they got their parents and you to look after them. _Her inner self said. Karei looked at the small bundles unsure.

"Akari and Artemis." She mumbled before smiling, "Get some rest now Hikari. Its been a rough night."

Hikari smiled at the sakurakage, glad that the worry had left her eyes.

"You have no idea."

--

Karei sat at her desk reviewing papers with her morning tray besides her. The previous nights events had drained her to the point that the minute she returned home she just curled up and went to sleep.

Karei took a sip of her morning tea that got her up and quickly signed the document she had in her hand. She set it down in a small pile and grabbed another from the larger pile. She was so lost in her work, she didn't even notice two powerful chakra's coming into the room.

Itachi materialized in front of the Sakurakage's desk while Minato suddenly appeared. They both waited for the Sakurakage to address them but after so long it became obvious she hadn't noticed them.

Minato gave a noticeable cough which made Karei look up quickly.

"Itachi. Minato." She said as if she couldn't believe it, "Your back!"

"Yes. Sakurakage-san." The males said bowing.

"I have written everything on this." Minato said handing over a dirty scroll, "It has all the details and personally I don't think they should be said aloud."

Karei nodded with seriousness in her eyes before she got a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Man you two are slow." She said teasingly, "A day sooner and you would have made it in time for Hikari's little episode."

Itachi's interest was automatically sparked at the mention of Hikari. Seeing this Karei smirked.

"Hospital. Third floor, room number three-hundred and twenty-seven." She said waving a dismissal to them. Itachi didn't wait a moment to bow. He simply rushed out the window and ran as fast as he could towards the hospital.

Karei smiled widely as she returned to her work but Minato held back.

"There something else isn't there, Karei?" He asked getting her attention. Karei looked up at the man curiously.

"Its hard to miss isn't it?" She asked serious again. Minato nodded stiffly.

"Yes. Hikari and Hachibi's chakra... What happened?" He asked in a somewhat demanding voice. Karei sighed aloud and set the document she was reading aside to tell Minato everything.

--

Itachi raced across Sakuragakura to the hospital. If he had understood Karei correctly then Hikari had given birth yesterday. But... But why was Hachibi's chakra hanging over Sakuragakura? Why was it getting more noticeable as he moved closer to the hospital? And why was it that at some points he could sworn that he felt Hikari's chakra with it?

Extremely worried, Itachi pumped chakra to his feet to move faster. He tore past the front office and quickly ran up to the room Karei said hikari was in. He was about to open the door but when he touched the door a pulse of chakra went threw his body. He halted for a moment before opening the door.

Itachi hadn't known what to expect but what he saw was defiantly a shock. Hikari sat in the bed in her new form as two babies suckled from her breasts. Feeling Itachi's chakra she turned to him and smiled kindly.

"Hello Itachi." She said softly.

"H-hikari?" Itachi stuttered. Her new look had thrown him completely off guard but the site of the two bundles in her arms threw him off more. He came over to Hikari's bed and peered down at the small children.

His eyes instantly softened and he rubbed the toff of hair on each childs' head.

"They're beautiful." He muttered. Hikari nodded her agreement and Itachi watched her carefully. It all made sense now. Hikari and Hachibi somehow had merged together.

He didn't know how or why but he really didn't care. _She just looks cuter now. _He thought adoring Hikari's new look and before he could control himself he leaned forward to kiss Hikari on the cheek.

Hikari looked at Itachi shocked with a small blush on her cheeks. She was even more shocked when Itachi got onto a knee and took one of her hands. Hikari heard herself gasp when Itachi pulled out a little black box with a diamond ring in it from his cloak. He presented it in front of him and took a breath.

"Hikari Nekoyomi. Over these past years I have gone from your sensei to a friend to your boyfriend. Its been a weird ride but I find that I've loved every moment of it. So, Hikari. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" He asked sincerely, "I would have asked earlier but work called me away."

Hikari was shocked but she knew this day would have came sometime soon. Overwhelmed, Hikari felt tears come to her eyes and she nodded her response. Itachi felt pure happiness fill him as he took the ring and slid it onto Hikari's finger.

He stood up and kissed Hikari on the lips. Hikari responded by returning his kiss and when they broke apart hikari rested her head on Itachi's chest. Both shinobi looked down at their children and thought of their up coming future. They were interrupted when all the Shinobi of the first generation and their old senseis came barging in.

"Hey Itachi's back!" Naruto shouted excited.

"Not so loud Naruto." Kasai scowled playfully.

"You act as if we had been gone for years." Minato said playfuly as the akatuski came over to him to greet him.

Itachi and Hikari were shocked at first by the sudden arrival of their old friends but they soon forgot it as they all had a party in the hospital room to celebrate the birth of two new members of the sakuragakura family and Itachi's long awaited return.

--

Karei sat alone in her office and set down the scroll she had been reading. She held her head in her hands as if she could no longer bear its weight.

_God damn it! _She cursed. _Why? Why can't one of my predictions be wrong? Why must it always be like this?_ She thought before a nurse came barging into her office.

"Karei-sama. Naruto and the others are causing a uproar in Hikari-san's room. They won't listen to any of the staff. Could you..."

"Leave them be." Karei ordered cutting the woman off. The nurse gave Karei a curious look before seeing the worry in the Sakurakage's eyes. _They deserve this moment of peace. Especially now that I know he has begun to move again. _Karei thought thinking of the one person who never allow peace to fall over the lands until he was long gone.

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well hope ya liked it and here are the votes:

**Who is your favorite oc in this story?**

Hikari--yami--dana--kaira--saria--kasai--furai--rei

**If i make a sequel it will be a cross-over. with what show should it be a cross-over.**

Inuyasha

Shaman King

Pokemon ( if you choose this please tell me what pokemon they should have)

Yu-gi-oh ( it will be in ancient egypt )

Harry Potter

yu yu hakusho

beyblade


	17. kurohyou

hey, here's the new chapter. sorry for the long wait. also there's a poll on my page and i would appriciate it if you would vote. bye!

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He sat back with a sour scowl on his lips. How much would he give to let Kingu sink its massive teeth into the Tsuchikage's neck?

Alas, Akira Nekoyomi held back on his urge and stroked the lion that was at his side. His hair was a brilliant orange that stuck out like the mane of the lion that sat beside him. His eyes were like two amber stones that reflected fire in the dimly light room.

The Tsuchikage sat across the table from the Nekoyomi leader glaring back at the cat man with equally fierce eyes.

"Is it understood Akira?" The Tsuchikage asked with an edge on his voice.

Akira's throat tightened as he thought of how he despised the man before him.

"Very well." He said tightly before standing up so quickly that his chair fell over. Akira didn't even give the Tsuchikage any sign of respect, he didn't even bow, before he stormed stiffly out of the room with Kingu at his heals.

The Nekoyomi leader stopped when he was outside the building to look up at the night sky. _Hikari. Yami. _He thought worryingly as he thought of his children before his eyes narrowed. _That's it. Its time I join my children. _He thought before looking down at his faithful companion.

Kingu gave a slight nod to his friend. It to missed the young warriors. Knowing that he had his friends approval Akira set off toward his clan to spread his news.

--

Hikari and Itachi walked on a remote beach in Sakuragakura as the sun began to be swallowed by the ocean, casting a red glare over the swirling waters.

The twins had grown to be quite large recently and enjoyed tackling Chi and her tail, as they did now.(1)

The two children gave shrieks of joy as they pounced on the cheetah's tail. Chi gave a soft sigh before lashing her tail away and running a bit of a ways off from the children. Still shrieking the little ones stumbled after the red cheetah, still trying to grab its tail.

"Poor Chi." Hikari said quietly. Three months with her twins had taught Hikari just how energetic the babies were and poor Chi was their favorite play toy. Itachi nodded his agreement. Since his long mission away from home, Karei had not given him any big missions.

But he wasn't going to complain. He was getting use to the life of a father but sometimes he wished he could keep up with his soon-to-be wife and children.

"Naruto and the others are considering merging with their demons." Hikari said startling Itachi.

"Really? That just might scare the day lights out of anyone stupid enough to attack us." he said, knowing exactly which idiot would pull that one. Hikari nodded her head before she felt something. It was a feeling of longing yet also a feeling of fear.

Itachi activated his Sharingan when he felt a huge chakra source.

"Chi! Bring Akari and Artemis here!" He cried. The cheetah gave a curious look to the man and simply planted its butt on the sandy beach to wash its paw. Itachi was about to repeat his order when a nine-tailed panther appear and pick up his children. He wanted to shout, to attack this demon if it meant saving his children. But he could not move.

He stood paralyzed in that spot as the demon brought them up to its eyes. The demon looked at the young children and they calmly looked back at him with wide curious eyes.

The demon gave a load chuckle before setting the children down and looking at Hikari.

"They are wonderful." The demon said, its voice booming. Itachi looked over at Hikari to see that his wife was gone and in her stead was Hachibi.(2)

"Aren't they? They have a bit of my and your chakra. In case you couldn't tell." The cheetah demon said with a smirk, "Oh! And sorry for the sudden…borrowing of your chakra. Death is very powerful."

The demons both gave amused chuckles and Itachi saw a rare softness in their eyes.

"So." The panther demon said turning its purple eyes on Itachi, "Who's this?"

Hachibi only then seemed to notice the Uchiha.

"Ah, yes. Kurohyou this is Itachi Uchiha. He is the father of those kits. He's shone to be a good protective father." Hachibi said smiling. Kurohyou lowered his head to Itachi.

"Is that so?" the demon asked. It already knew of Itachi. It knew about everything. After all he had been watch Hikari closely since she had taken in his mate, Hachibi.

Itachi felt small in the demons presence. He wanted to retreat into a corner and hide there. He was about to turn tail and run when he caught sight of his children playing with Chi again.

_No. I will not run without my children or Hikari. _He thought returning his attention to the demon in front of him. He gave Kurohyou a defiant glare that shone with his Sharingan.

Kurohyou saw the fear flee from Itachi's eye, to be replaced with determination. He smiled broadly at the Uchiha.

"Well then." He started, "I have a proposal to you. Itachi Uchiha. Lover to Hikari Nekoyomi."

Itachi raised a curious eyebrow, "A proposal?" He asked. The demon nodded.

"I don't know if you have been in formed of this yet, But Hachibi and I were mates before she was sealed inside your lover." Kurohyou started.

Itachi remained calm as he listened but he couldn't hide the shock that was in his eyes. Was it possible for demons to love? Well, why not?

"So." The panther said, "My proposal to you is to merge with you."

"M…merge?" Itachi asked, all his calm gone.

"Yes you know. The same thing Hachibi and Hikari did." The demon said some what annoyed at his newly chosen vessel's stupidity.

"Can… Can you truly do that?" Itachi asked. If he could merge with Kurohyou, then he would be more useful to the village. And maybe….

"Yes. I can. And if we do merge then I will be able to fully restore your eye and get rid of that sickness." The demon said smirking when he saw Itachi's eyes widen in more shock. Itachi stood paralyzed again as he considered the demons offer.

"Very well." He said looking up at Kurohyou, "I agree."

The demons smile broadened, "Good. But before we become one I have some information for your comrades." Kurohyou said before a scroll gently floated down to Itachi, "In that scroll is the location of several other demons looking for something to do other then sleep. Have your friends look into them and see if they will be willing to join us." The demon said.

Itachi grabbed the scroll and looked at in fascination. Returning his stare to Kurohyou he saw the demon was glowing.

"Relax your body and open up your mind." The demon commanded. Itachi nodded and did as he was told.

Hikari walked over to her children and stood between them and the man and demon. She bent down and brought the children close to her just before Itachi's scream filled the air along with a blast of chakra.

--

The Jinchuuriki, the Akatsuki, and the original team four ran at full speed with Karei leading them. They were stopped however when a blast of chakra almost lifted them all off the ground and threw them. If it hadn't been for Karei quickly boringly up roots to hold the humans down they would have gone flying.

After the blast had gone by they all stood rooted in place panting.

"What the hell?" Kasai asked as the dust settled. Naruto gave a few coughs as his eyes slit.

"Seems like the treat is bigger then we thought." He said hoarsely. Karei gave a nervous nod. Whatever had just happened was big and she wasn't sure she liked it.

"Lets go." Karei demanded as the roots released the group. She charged ahead with the others close behind and poured chakra into her feet to go faster.

When they did arrive at the beach that the chakra source was coming from they were shocked to see Hikari holding Artemis while a man that looked like Itachi but with nine Black Panther tails, three black stripes on each cheek, and a black star on his forehead, held Akari. The two children were shrieking happily at the two adults and as the group stared at them shocked they noticed they had company.

"Hello everyone." Itachi said, his voice laced with power now.

"I…Itachi…sensei?" Naruto stuttered. Itachi nodded to the growing man before turning his gaze to Karei, who was surprisingly enough chuckling.

"Lets go home. I was in the middle of a nice dream before this all happened and now if you don't mind I want to return to that dream." She said before heading back. Everyone nodded stiffly as they fallowed Karei back.

"Why didn't you give Karei the scroll?' Hikari asked Itachi when they were alone. Itachi gave his wife a curious look before kissing her lightly.

"It'll wait until I can speak with her alone. I don't think it would be good to give it to her openly." He explained. Hikari gave him a confused look but didn't argue.

"Lets go home then." She said before disappearing with the twins. Itachi smiled before he too left.

--

Karei sat back in her office. After Itachi's merging with Kurohyou, as he and Hikari called the demon, the other Jinchuuriki had began merging with their own demons.

Gaara now had the addition of a sandy brown Tanuki tail, a sandy brown stripe on each cheek, and a sandy brown 4 pointed star on his forehead.

Saria had the addition of two black cattails with red stripes on the end, a black stripe on each cheek, and a black diamond on her forehead.(kirara)

Kaira however had to be the most interesting yet. When she's in water her legs change into a white fish tail with three fins but when on land she had two legs. She also had a red stripe on each cheek and a red triangle on her forehead that point down.

Dana had gotten real wings, an aquamarine stripe on each cheek, and an aquamarine cloud on her forehead.

Neji had gotten five brown wolf tails, a lilac stripe on each cheek, and a lilac moon on his forehead.

Yami had acquired six dark orange tiger tails, two orange stripes on each cheek, and a dark orange sun on his forehead.

Kiba had seven white dog tails with brown tips, two purple stripes on each cheek, and a purple moon on his forehead.

And Naruto had nine blonde foxtails with white tips; three sky blue stripes on each cheek, had lost his whiskers, and had gotten a sky blue heart on his forehead.

The changes were…startling. But what was more startling was what Itachi had given her no more then an hour ago. A scroll that had the location of eleven other demons.

She had practically died of a heart attack when she opened the scroll. _But who to send? _Karei kept questioning. On the paper besides her she had her list and it was fairly obvious who she was sending.

Sighing a load she called for her new assistant now that Hikari was gone with her kids.

"Get me the original team four and the Akatsuki" She commanded. The woman nodded and went to do as Karei ordered. _God. Could I have any more shocks this week? _Karei asked as she quickly wrote each location in a different scroll along with the name of its chosen one.

The moment was short lived though. For everyone arrived.

"You called Karei-dono?" Kasai asked, shocked that so many were gathered.

"Yes. I have a mission for all of you. It is optional but I don't trust anyone else." Karei said getting everyone's attention, "You must choose as I call your names. I cannot give you any information on it except in these scrolls. And you are not to shared that information with anyone if you do except. Sasori."

Sasori stood in his puppet for a moment before nodding, "I accept." He said coming forward so Karei could hand him his scroll.

"Do not open it until you have left the village." Karei said before moving onto the next person, "Deidara."

The blonde gave a smug smirk, "I'll do anything you throw at me." He said taking his scroll.

Karei nodded to the blonde, "Kisame."

The shark man hardly replied. Instead he simply took his scroll with an insane smile.

"Hidan." The god-obsessed man came forward to take his scroll.

"Kakuzu." Kakuzu extended his hand so black treads could take the scroll.

"Tobi." The man was oddly enough calm as he walked forward to take the scroll. His one visible eye showed interest.

"Aoi." A paper butterfly took the scroll and flew it to the gentle looking woman.

"Minato." The Akatsuki leader boldly came forward and took the scroll.

"Kasai." Kasai came forward and took the scroll.

"Furai." Furai's hawk flew forward to take the scroll and bring it to her.

"And Rei." The Youma appeared next to Karei, took the scroll, and sunk back into the ground.

"On those scrolls is your mission. You have accepted them and cannot refuse the task. Now go. You all have a long journey." Karei said with an exhausted look. The eleven shinobi before her nodded before Karei's office was filled with pops and smoke. The smoke quickly settled and Karei was alone with Minato.

"Why are you sending so many of us away at once?" He asked. Karei sighed tiredly.

"Sakuragakura is strong now. We can hold on our own while your gone." She said tiredly. Minato gave Karei a confused look before walking past her desk. Karei heard her window open, felt the cool days breeze, and smelt the village. She thought Minato had gone when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder and someone lean over her.

"Be back soon then." He said before doing something Karei would never had suspected. He gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

Karei went to whip around to question him but when she turned was already gone. She gave an irritated grunt before turning back to her work. _Damn it. _She thought doing her work.

--

Akira and his clan ran threw the forest as fast as they could. The elderly were having trouble keeping up but he dare not slow his pace.

"Why the devil are we doing this again?" a woman with brown hair and purple eyes asked. At her heels was a normal house cat, which hissed in displeasure.

"I will not fight against my own children Ame. Nor will I send my clan mates to die pointlessly." Akira said, "Levi. You and Yuki go ahead and try to get escorts from Sakuragakura. Its only a matter of time before they find us again."

A girl with dark burned orange hair and purple eyes nodded to her father before taking off with a snow leopard on her heels.

Levi ran as fast as she could. She didn't know this area but she had to believe in her father. She ran to the swirl of chakra that was the gate to Sakuragakura but wasn't shocked when almost a dozen shinobi stepped in front of her.

"Name and business." Shiro demanded glaring at the strange girl.

"Please." Levi panted, "My clan seeks refuge in Sakuragakura. My father, the leader, has news he must share with you."

Shiro and the other Shinobi exchanged curious glances.

"Inform Karei-san." Shiro ordered to one of the shinobi. The woman nodded her head before disappearing, "Where is your clan?"

"This…this way." Levi said shocked that she was actually getting the help her father said would come. She went to lead the man back when he called out several names and a party of Anbu appeared around her.

"Lead the way." Shiro said smirking at the girls obvious shock. Levi nodded and took off into the forest with the group right behind her.

--

"What did you say?" Karei demanded. She had JUST gotten rid of one problem and now she had to deal with a clan wanting entrance to her village? God! Couldn't she plan her defense in peace?

Over writing her exhaustion Karei left her home and headed out for her office.

--

Akira cursed when he heard cries coming from his end ranks.

"Akira! Iwa Anbu!" A member of the clan called. Akira cursed at his rotten luck.

"Ame! Lead them away." He demanded, "Come Kingu!"

The leader and lion raced towards the end ranks only to be met by Anbu. The lion gave a load snarl before it pounced on the Anbu. Drawing his katana, Akira joined in. It was only so long that the clan had gone and Akira was left with Kingu and barely a handful of men to fight off a few patrols of Anbu.

_Damn it. There's too many. _Akira thought as he tried to hold off three men. He was about to lung in when another man appeared behind him ready to impale his heart.

"Die traitor!" The Anbu shouted. Akira watched as the Anbu's dagger got closer to him and waited for deaths cold grip.

_Good-bye, Levi. _He thought. Yet the pain did not come. Instead was a warm splatter on his back.

"What the…" Akira went to ask when he saw Shiro behind him.

"I believe there was a distress call." The Youma head said smiling, "Come. The Sakurakage is waiting."

"But the Anbu?" Akira asked.

"You mean the ones running like dogs with their tails between their legs?" Shiro said motioning to the Anbu who were indeed running.

Akira glanced around in shock.

"Now come." Shiro said, "Lady Karei awaits."

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(1) in my story demon children grow very fast.

(2) Hachibi's spirit is still alive she only merged her and hikari's chakra and blood.

hope, ya liked it and please review.


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